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<span class="pre noprint docinfo">[<a href="https://www.rfc-editor.org" title="RFC Editor">RFC Home</a>] [<a href="/rfc/rfc6184.txt">TEXT</a>|<a href="/rfc/pdfrfc/rfc6184.txt.pdf">PDF</a>|<a href="/rfc/rfc6184.html">HTML</a>] [<a href='https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/rfc6184' title='IETF Datatracker information for this document'>Tracker</a>] [<a href="https://datatracker.ietf.org/ipr/search/?rfc=6184&amp;submit=rfc" title="IPR disclosures related to this document">IPR</a>] [<a class="boldtext" href="/errata/rfc6184" target="_blank">Errata</a>] [<a href='https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc6184' title='Info page'>Info page</a>]         </span><br/><span class="pre noprint docinfo">                                                                        </span><br /><span class="pre noprint docinfo">                                                       PROPOSED STANDARD</span><br /><span class="pre noprint docinfo">                                                            <span style='color: #C00;'>Errata Exist</span></span><pre>Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF)                        Y.-K. Wang
Request for Comments: 6184                                       R. Even
Obsoletes: <a href="./rfc3984">3984</a>                                      Huawei Technologies
Category: Standards Track                                  T. Kristensen
ISSN: 2070-1721                                                 Tandberg
                                                                R. Jesup
                                                WorldGate Communications
                                                                May 2011


                   <span class="h1">RTP Payload Format for H.264 Video</span>

Abstract

   This memo describes an RTP Payload format for the ITU-T
   Recommendation H.264 video codec and the technically identical
   ISO/IEC International Standard 14496-10 video codec, excluding the
   Scalable Video Coding (SVC) extension and the Multiview Video Coding
   extension, for which the RTP payload formats are defined elsewhere.
   The RTP payload format allows for packetization of one or more
   Network Abstraction Layer Units (NALUs), produced by an H.264 video
   encoder, in each RTP payload.  The payload format has wide
   applicability, as it supports applications from simple low bitrate
   conversational usage, to Internet video streaming with interleaved
   transmission, to high bitrate video-on-demand.

   This memo obsoletes <a href="./rfc3984">RFC 3984</a>.  Changes from <a href="./rfc3984">RFC 3984</a> are summarized
   in <a href="#section-14">Section 14</a>.  Issues on backward compatibility to <a href="./rfc3984">RFC 3984</a> are
   discussed in <a href="#section-15">Section 15</a>.

Status of This Memo

   This is an Internet Standards Track document.

   This document is a product of the Internet Engineering Task Force
   (IETF).  It represents the consensus of the IETF community.  It has
   received public review and has been approved for publication by the
   Internet Engineering Steering Group (IESG).  Further information on
   Internet Standards is available in <a href="./rfc5741#section-2">Section&nbsp;2 of RFC 5741</a>.

   Information about the current status of this document, any errata,
   and how to provide feedback on it may be obtained at
   <a href="http://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc6184">http://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc6184</a>.








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<span class="grey"><a href="./rfc6184">RFC 6184</a>           RTP Payload Format for H.264 Video           May 2011</span>


Copyright Notice

   Copyright (c) 2011 IETF Trust and the persons identified as the
   document authors.  All rights reserved.

   This document is subject to <a href="https://www.rfc-editor.org/bcp/bcp78">BCP 78</a> and the IETF Trust's Legal
   Provisions Relating to IETF Documents
   (<a href="http://trustee.ietf.org/license-info">http://trustee.ietf.org/license-info</a>) in effect on the date of
   publication of this document.  Please review these documents
   carefully, as they describe your rights and restrictions with respect
   to this document.  Code Components extracted from this document must
   include Simplified BSD License text as described in Section 4.e of
   the Trust Legal Provisions and are provided without warranty as
   described in the Simplified BSD License.

Table of Contents

   <a href="#section-1">1</a>. Introduction ....................................................<a href="#page-4">4</a>
      <a href="#section-1.1">1.1</a>. The H.264 Codec ............................................<a href="#page-4">4</a>
      <a href="#section-1.2">1.2</a>. Parameter Set Concept ......................................<a href="#page-5">5</a>
      <a href="#section-1.3">1.3</a>. Network Abstraction Layer Unit Types .......................<a href="#page-6">6</a>
   <a href="#section-2">2</a>. Conventions .....................................................<a href="#page-7">7</a>
   <a href="#section-3">3</a>. Scope ...........................................................<a href="#page-7">7</a>
   <a href="#section-4">4</a>. Definitions and Abbreviations ...................................<a href="#page-7">7</a>
      <a href="#section-4.1">4.1</a>. Definitions ................................................<a href="#page-7">7</a>
      <a href="#section-4.2">4.2</a>. Abbreviations ..............................................<a href="#page-9">9</a>
   <a href="#section-5">5</a>. RTP Payload Format .............................................<a href="#page-10">10</a>
      <a href="#section-5.1">5.1</a>. RTP Header Usage ..........................................<a href="#page-10">10</a>
      <a href="#section-5.2">5.2</a>. Payload Structures ........................................<a href="#page-12">12</a>
      <a href="#section-5.3">5.3</a>. NAL Unit Header Usage .....................................<a href="#page-13">13</a>
      <a href="#section-5.4">5.4</a>. Packetization Modes .......................................<a href="#page-16">16</a>
      <a href="#section-5.5">5.5</a>. Decoding Order Number (DON) ...............................<a href="#page-17">17</a>
      <a href="#section-5.6">5.6</a>. Single NAL Unit Packet ....................................<a href="#page-19">19</a>
      <a href="#section-5.7">5.7</a>. Aggregation Packets .......................................<a href="#page-20">20</a>
           <a href="#section-5.7.1">5.7.1</a>. Single-Time Aggregation Packet (STAP) ..............<a href="#page-22">22</a>
           <a href="#section-5.7.2">5.7.2</a>. Multi-Time Aggregation Packets (MTAPs) .............<a href="#page-25">25</a>
      <a href="#section-5.8">5.8</a>. Fragmentation Units (FUs) .................................<a href="#page-29">29</a>
   <a href="#section-6">6</a>. Packetization Rules ............................................<a href="#page-33">33</a>
      <a href="#section-6.1">6.1</a>. Common Packetization Rules ................................<a href="#page-33">33</a>
      <a href="#section-6.2">6.2</a>. Single NAL Unit Mode ......................................<a href="#page-34">34</a>
      <a href="#section-6.3">6.3</a>. Non-Interleaved Mode ......................................<a href="#page-34">34</a>
      <a href="#section-6.4">6.4</a>. Interleaved Mode ..........................................<a href="#page-34">34</a>
   <a href="#section-7">7</a>. De-Packetization Process .......................................<a href="#page-35">35</a>
      <a href="#section-7.1">7.1</a>. Single NAL Unit and Non-Interleaved Mode ..................<a href="#page-35">35</a>
      <a href="#section-7.2">7.2</a>. Interleaved Mode ..........................................<a href="#page-35">35</a>
           <a href="#section-7.2.1">7.2.1</a>. Size of the De-Interleaving Buffer .................<a href="#page-36">36</a>
           <a href="#section-7.2.2">7.2.2</a>. De-Interleaving Process ............................<a href="#page-36">36</a>
      <a href="#section-7.3">7.3</a>. Additional De-Packetization Guidelines ....................<a href="#page-38">38</a>



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<span class="grey"><a href="./rfc6184">RFC 6184</a>           RTP Payload Format for H.264 Video           May 2011</span>


   <a href="#section-8">8</a>. Payload Format Parameters ......................................<a href="#page-39">39</a>
      <a href="#section-8.1">8.1</a>. Media Type Registration ...................................<a href="#page-39">39</a>
      <a href="#section-8.2">8.2</a>. SDP Parameters ............................................<a href="#page-57">57</a>
           <a href="#section-8.2.1">8.2.1</a>. Mapping of Payload Type Parameters to SDP ..........<a href="#page-57">57</a>
           <a href="#section-8.2.2">8.2.2</a>. Usage with the SDP Offer/Answer Model ..............<a href="#page-58">58</a>
           <a href="#section-8.2.3">8.2.3</a>. Usage in Declarative Session Descriptions ..........<a href="#page-66">66</a>
      <a href="#section-8.3">8.3</a>. Examples ..................................................<a href="#page-68">68</a>
      <a href="#section-8.4">8.4</a>. Parameter Set Considerations ..............................<a href="#page-75">75</a>
      8.5. Decoder Refresh Point Procedure Using In-Band
           Transport of Parameter Sets (Informative)..................<a href="#page-78">78</a>
           8.5.1. IDR Procedure to Respond to a Request for
                  a Decoder Refresh Point ............................<a href="#page-78">78</a>
           8.5.2. Gradual Recovery Procedure to Respond to
                  a Request for a Decoder Refresh Point ..............<a href="#page-79">79</a>
   <a href="#section-9">9</a>. Security Considerations ........................................<a href="#page-79">79</a>
   <a href="#section-10">10</a>. Congestion Control ............................................<a href="#page-80">80</a>
   <a href="#section-11">11</a>. IANA Considerations ...........................................<a href="#page-81">81</a>
   <a href="#section-12">12</a>. Informative Appendix: Application Examples ....................<a href="#page-81">81</a>
      12.1. Video Telephony According to Annex A of ITU-T
            Recommendation H.241 .....................................<a href="#page-81">81</a>
      12.2. Video Telephony, No Slice Data Partitioning, No
            NAL Unit Aggregation .....................................<a href="#page-82">82</a>
      12.3. Video Telephony, Interleaved Packetization Using
            NAL Unit Aggregation .....................................<a href="#page-82">82</a>
      <a href="#section-12.4">12.4</a>. Video Telephony with Data Partitioning ...................<a href="#page-83">83</a>
      12.5. Video Telephony or Streaming with FUs and Forward
            Error Correction .........................................<a href="#page-83">83</a>
      <a href="#section-12.6">12.6</a>. Low Bitrate Streaming ....................................<a href="#page-86">86</a>
      <a href="#section-12.7">12.7</a>. Robust Packet Scheduling in Video Streaming ..............<a href="#page-86">86</a>
   <a href="#section-13">13</a>. Informative Appendix: Rationale for Decoding Order Number .....<a href="#page-87">87</a>
      <a href="#section-13.1">13.1</a>. Introduction .............................................<a href="#page-87">87</a>
      <a href="#section-13.2">13.2</a>. Example of Multi-Picture Slice Interleaving ..............<a href="#page-88">88</a>
      <a href="#section-13.3">13.3</a>. Example of Robust Packet Scheduling ......................<a href="#page-89">89</a>
      13.4. Robust Transmission Scheduling of Redundant Coded
            Slices ...................................................<a href="#page-93">93</a>
      <a href="#section-13.5">13.5</a>. Remarks on Other Design Possibilities ....................<a href="#page-94">94</a>
   <a href="#section-14">14</a>. Changes from <a href="./rfc3984">RFC 3984</a> .........................................<a href="#page-94">94</a>
   <a href="#section-15">15</a>. Backward Compatibility to <a href="./rfc3984">RFC 3984</a> ............................<a href="#page-96">96</a>
   <a href="#section-16">16</a>. Acknowledgements ..............................................<a href="#page-98">98</a>
   <a href="#section-17">17</a>. References ....................................................<a href="#page-98">98</a>
      <a href="#section-17.1">17.1</a>. Normative References .....................................<a href="#page-98">98</a>
      <a href="#section-17.2">17.2</a>. Informative References ...................................<a href="#page-99">99</a>









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<span class="grey"><a href="./rfc6184">RFC 6184</a>           RTP Payload Format for H.264 Video           May 2011</span>


<span class="h2"><a class="selflink" id="section-1" href="#section-1">1</a>.  Introduction</span>

   This memo specifies an RTP payload specification for the video coding
   standard known as ITU-T Recommendation H.264 [<a href="#ref-1" title="&quot;Advanced video coding for generic audiovisual services&quot;">1</a>] and ISO/IEC
   International Standard 14496-10 [<a href="#ref-2">2</a>] (both also known as Advanced
   Video Coding (AVC)).  In this memo, the name H.264 is used for the
   codec and the standard, but this memo is equally applicable to the
   ISO/IEC counterpart of the coding standard.

   This memo obsoletes <a href="./rfc3984">RFC 3984</a>.  Changes from <a href="./rfc3984">RFC 3984</a> are summarized
   in <a href="#section-14">Section 14</a>.  Issues on backward compatibility to <a href="./rfc3984">RFC 3984</a> are
   discussed in <a href="#section-15">Section 15</a>.

<span class="h3"><a class="selflink" id="section-1.1" href="#section-1.1">1.1</a>.  The H.264 Codec</span>

   The H.264 video codec has a very broad application range that covers
   all forms of digital compressed video, from low bitrate Internet
   streaming applications to HDTV broadcast and Digital Cinema
   applications with nearly lossless coding.  Compared to the current
   state of technology, the overall performance of H.264 is such that
   bitrate savings of 50% or more are reported.  Digital Satellite TV
   quality, for example, was reported to be achievable at 1.5 Mbit/s,
   compared to the current operation point of MPEG 2 video at around 3.5
   Mbit/s [<a href="#ref-10" title="&quot;Introduction to the special issue on the H.264/AVC video coding standard&quot;">10</a>].

   The codec specification [<a href="#ref-1" title="&quot;Advanced video coding for generic audiovisual services&quot;">1</a>] itself conceptually distinguishes between
   a Video Coding Layer (VCL) and a Network Abstraction Layer (NAL).
   The VCL contains the signal processing functionality of the codec;
   mechanisms such as transform, quantization, and motion-compensated
   prediction; and a loop filter.  It follows the general concept of
   most of today's video codecs, a macroblock-based coder that uses
   inter picture prediction with motion compensation and transform
   coding of the residual signal.  The VCL encoder outputs slices: a bit
   string that contains the macroblock data of an integer number of
   macroblocks and the information of the slice header (containing the
   spatial address of the first macroblock in the slice, the initial
   quantization parameter, and similar information).  Macroblocks in
   slices are arranged in scan order unless a different macroblock
   allocation is specified using the syntax of slice groups.  In-picture
   prediction is used only within a slice.  More information is provided
   in [<a href="#ref-10" title="&quot;Introduction to the special issue on the H.264/AVC video coding standard&quot;">10</a>].

   The NAL encoder encapsulates the slice output of the VCL encoder into
   Network Abstraction Layer Units (NALUs), which are suitable for
   transmission over packet networks or for use in packet-oriented






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<span class="grey"><a href="./rfc6184">RFC 6184</a>           RTP Payload Format for H.264 Video           May 2011</span>


   multiplex environments.  Annex B of H.264 defines an encapsulation
   process to transmit such NALUs over bytestream-oriented networks.  In
   the scope of this memo, Annex B is not relevant.

   Internally, the NAL uses NAL units.  A NAL unit consists of a one-
   byte header and the payload byte string.  The header indicates the
   type of the NAL unit, the (potential) presence of bit errors or
   syntax violations in the NAL unit payload, and information regarding
   the relative importance of the NAL unit for the decoding process.
   This RTP payload specification is designed to be unaware of the bit
   string in the NAL unit payload.

   One of the main properties of H.264 is the complete decoupling of the
   transmission time, the decoding time, and the sampling or
   presentation time of slices and pictures.  The decoding process
   specified in H.264 is unaware of time, and the H.264 syntax does not
   carry information such as the number of skipped frames (as is common
   in the form of the Temporal Reference in earlier video compression
   standards).  Also, there are NAL units that affect many pictures and
   that are, therefore, inherently timeless.  For this reason, the
   handling of the RTP timestamp requires some special considerations
   for NAL units for which the sampling or presentation time is not
   defined or, at transmission time, is unknown.

<span class="h3"><a class="selflink" id="section-1.2" href="#section-1.2">1.2</a>.  Parameter Set Concept</span>

   One very fundamental design concept of H.264 is to generate self-
   contained packets, to make mechanisms such as the header duplication
   of <a href="./rfc4629">RFC 4629</a> [<a href="#ref-11" title="&quot;RTP Payload Format for ITU-T Rec. H.263 Video&quot;">11</a>] or MPEG-4 Visual's Header Extension Code (HEC) [<a href="#ref-12">12</a>]
   unnecessary.  This was achieved by decoupling information relevant to
   more than one slice from the media stream.  This higher-layer meta
   information should be sent reliably, asynchronously, and in advance
   from the RTP packet stream that contains the slice packets.
   (Provisions for sending this information in-band are also available
   for applications that do not have an out-of-band transport channel
   appropriate for the purpose).  The combination of the higher-level
   parameters is called a parameter set.  The H.264 specification
   includes two types of parameter sets: sequence parameter sets and
   picture parameter sets.  An active sequence parameter set remains
   unchanged throughout a coded video sequence, and an active picture
   parameter set remains unchanged within a coded picture.  The sequence
   and picture parameter set structures contain information such as
   picture size, optional coding modes employed, and macroblock to slice
   group map.







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   To be able to change picture parameters (such as the picture size)
   without having to transmit parameter set updates synchronously to the
   slice packet stream, the encoder and decoder can maintain a list of
   more than one sequence and picture parameter set.  Each slice header
   contains a codeword that indicates the sequence and picture parameter
   set to be used.

   This mechanism allows the decoupling of the transmission of parameter
   sets from the packet stream and the transmission of them by external
   means (e.g., as a side effect of the capability exchange) or through
   a (reliable or unreliable) control protocol.  It may even be possible
   that they are never transmitted but are fixed by an application
   design specification.

<span class="h3"><a class="selflink" id="section-1.3" href="#section-1.3">1.3</a>.  Network Abstraction Layer Unit Types</span>

   Tutorial information on the NAL design can be found in [<a href="#ref-13" title="&quot;H.264/AVC over IP&quot;">13</a>], [<a href="#ref-14" title="&quot;H.26L over IP: The IP-Network Adaptation Layer&quot;">14</a>],
   and [<a href="#ref-15" title="&quot;H.26L/JVT Coding Network Abstraction Layer and IP-Based Transport&quot;">15</a>].

   All NAL units consist of a single NAL unit type octet, which also
   co-serves as the payload header of this RTP payload format.  A
   description of the payload of a NAL unit follows.

   The syntax and semantics of the NAL unit type octet are specified in
   [<a href="#ref-1" title="&quot;Advanced video coding for generic audiovisual services&quot;">1</a>], but the essential properties of the NAL unit type octet are
   summarized below.  The NAL unit type octet has the following format:

      +---------------+
      |0|1|2|3|4|5|6|7|
      +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
      |F|NRI|  Type   |
      +---------------+

   The semantics of the components of the NAL unit type octet, as
   specified in the H.264 specification, are described briefly below.

   F:       1 bit
            forbidden_zero_bit.  The H.264 specification declares a
            value of 1 as a syntax violation.

   NRI:     2 bits
            nal_ref_idc.  A value of 00 indicates that the content of
            the NAL unit is not used to reconstruct reference pictures
            for inter picture prediction.  Such NAL units can be
            discarded without risking the integrity of the reference
            pictures.  Values greater than 00 indicate that the decoding
            of the NAL unit is required to maintain the integrity of the
            reference pictures.



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   Type:    5 bits
            nal_unit_type.  This component specifies the NAL unit
            payload type as defined in Table 7-1 of [<a href="#ref-1" title="&quot;Advanced video coding for generic audiovisual services&quot;">1</a>] and later within
            this memo.  For a reference of all currently defined NAL
            unit types and their semantics, please refer to <a href="#section-7.4.1">Section</a>
            <a href="#section-7.4.1">7.4.1</a> in [<a href="#ref-1" title="&quot;Advanced video coding for generic audiovisual services&quot;">1</a>].

   This memo introduces new NAL unit types, which are presented in
   <a href="#section-5.2">Section 5.2</a>.  The NAL unit types defined in this memo are marked as
   unspecified in [<a href="#ref-1" title="&quot;Advanced video coding for generic audiovisual services&quot;">1</a>].  Moreover, this specification extends the
   semantics of F and NRI as described in <a href="#section-5.3">Section 5.3</a>.

<span class="h2"><a class="selflink" id="section-2" href="#section-2">2</a>.  Conventions</span>

   The key words "MUST", "MUST NOT", "REQUIRED", "SHALL", "SHALL NOT",
   "SHOULD", "SHOULD NOT", "RECOMMENDED", "MAY", and "OPTIONAL" in this
   document are to be interpreted as described in <a href="./rfc2119">RFC 2119</a> [<a href="#ref-4" title="&quot;Key words for use in RFCs to Indicate Requirement Levels&quot;">4</a>].

   This specification uses the notion of setting and clearing a bit when
   bit fields are handled.  Setting a bit is the same as assigning that
   bit the value of 1 (On).  Clearing a bit is the same as assigning
   that bit the value of 0 (Off).

<span class="h2"><a class="selflink" id="section-3" href="#section-3">3</a>.  Scope</span>

   This payload specification can only be used to carry the "naked"
   H.264 NAL unit stream over RTP and not the bitstream format discussed
   in Annex B of H.264.  Likely, the first applications of this
   specification will be in the conversational multimedia field, video
   telephony or video conferencing, but the payload format also covers
   other applications, such as Internet streaming and TV over IP.

<span class="h2"><a class="selflink" id="section-4" href="#section-4">4</a>.  Definitions and Abbreviations</span>

<span class="h3"><a class="selflink" id="section-4.1" href="#section-4.1">4.1</a>.  Definitions</span>

   This document uses the definitions of [<a href="#ref-1" title="&quot;Advanced video coding for generic audiovisual services&quot;">1</a>].  The following terms,
   defined in [<a href="#ref-1" title="&quot;Advanced video coding for generic audiovisual services&quot;">1</a>], are summed up for convenience:

      access unit: A set of NAL units always containing a primary coded
      picture.  In addition to the primary coded picture, an access unit
      may also contain one or more redundant coded pictures or other NAL
      units not containing slices or slice data partitions of a coded
      picture.  The decoding of an access unit always results in a
      decoded picture.






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      coded video sequence: A sequence of access units that consists, in
      decoding order, of an instantaneous decoding refresh (IDR) access
      unit followed by zero or more non-IDR access units including all
      subsequent access units up to but not including any subsequent IDR
      access unit.

      IDR access unit: An access unit in which the primary coded picture
      is an IDR picture.

      IDR picture: A coded picture containing only slices with I or SI
      slice types that causes a "reset" in the decoding process.  After
      the decoding of an IDR picture, all following coded pictures in
      decoding order can be decoded without inter prediction from any
      picture decoded prior to the IDR picture.

      primary coded picture: The coded representation of a picture to be
      used by the decoding process for a bitstream conforming to H.264.
      The primary coded picture contains all macroblocks of the picture.

      redundant coded picture: A coded representation of a picture or a
      part of a picture.  The content of a redundant coded picture shall
      not be used by the decoding process for a bitstream conforming to
      H.264.  The content of a redundant coded picture may be used by
      the decoding process for a bitstream that contains errors or
      losses.

      VCL NAL unit: A collective term used to refer to coded slice and
      coded data partition NAL units.

   In addition, the following definitions apply:

      decoding order number (DON): A field in the payload structure or a
      derived variable indicating NAL unit decoding order.  Values of
      DON are in the range of 0 to 65535, inclusive.  After reaching the
      maximum value, the value of DON wraps around to 0.

      NAL unit decoding order: A NAL unit order that conforms to the
      constraints on NAL unit order given in Section 7.4.1.2 in [<a href="#ref-1" title="&quot;Advanced video coding for generic audiovisual services&quot;">1</a>].

      NALU-time: The value that the RTP timestamp would have if the NAL
      unit would be transported in its own RTP packet.

      transmission order: The order of packets in ascending RTP sequence
      number order (in modulo arithmetic).  Within an aggregation
      packet, the NAL unit transmission order is the same as the order
      of appearance of NAL units in the packet.





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      media-aware network element (MANE): A network element, such as a
      middlebox or application layer gateway that is capable of parsing
      certain aspects of the RTP payload headers or the RTP payload and
      reacting to the contents.

         Informative note: The concept of a MANE goes beyond normal
         routers or gateways in that a MANE has to be aware of the
         signaling (e.g., to learn about the payload type mappings of
         the media streams) and that it has to be trusted when working
         with Secure Real-time Transport Protocol (SRTP).  The advantage
         of using MANEs is that they allow packets to be dropped
         according to the needs of the media coding.  For example, if a
         MANE has to drop packets due to congestion on a certain link,
         it can identify and remove those packets whose elimination
         produces the least adverse effect on the user experience.

      static macroblock: A certain amount of macroblocks in the video
      stream can be defined as static, as defined in Section 8.3.2.8 in
      [<a href="#ref-3" title="&quot;Extended video procedures and control signals for H.300-series terminals&quot;">3</a>].  Static macroblocks free up additional processing cycles for
      the handling of non-static macroblocks.  Based on a given amount
      of video processing resources and a given resolution, a higher
      number of static macroblocks enables a correspondingly higher
      frame rate.

      default sub-profile: The subset of coding tools, which may be all
      coding tools of one profile or the common subset of coding tools
      of more than one profile, indicated by the profile-level-id
      parameter.

      default level: The level indicated by the profile-level-id
      parameter, which consists of three octets, profile_idc, profile-
      iop, and level_idc.  The default level is indicated by level_idc
      in most cases, and, in some cases, additionally by profile-iop.

<span class="h3"><a class="selflink" id="section-4.2" href="#section-4.2">4.2</a>.  Abbreviations</span>

      DON:        Decoding Order Number
      DONB:       Decoding Order Number Base
      DOND:       Decoding Order Number Difference
      FEC:        Forward Error Correction
      FU:         Fragmentation Unit
      IDR:        Instantaneous Decoding Refresh
      IEC:        International Electrotechnical Commission
      ISO:        International Organization for Standardization
      ITU-T:      International Telecommunication Union,
                  Telecommunication Standardization Sector
      MANE:       Media-Aware Network Element
      MTAP:       Multi-Time Aggregation Packet



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      MTAP16:     MTAP with 16-bit timestamp offset
      MTAP24:     MTAP with 24-bit timestamp offset
      NAL:        Network Abstraction Layer
      NALU:       NAL Unit
      SAR:        Sample Aspect Ratio
      SEI:        Supplemental Enhancement Information
      STAP:       Single-Time Aggregation Packet
      STAP-A:     STAP type A
      STAP-B:     STAP type B
      TS:         Timestamp
      VCL:        Video Coding Layer
      VUI:        Video Usability Information

<span class="h2"><a class="selflink" id="section-5" href="#section-5">5</a>.  RTP Payload Format</span>

<span class="h3"><a class="selflink" id="section-5.1" href="#section-5.1">5.1</a>.  RTP Header Usage</span>

   The format of the RTP header is specified in <a href="./rfc3550">RFC 3550</a> [<a href="#ref-5" title="&quot;RTP: A Transport Protocol for Real-Time Applications&quot;">5</a>] and
   reprinted in Figure 1 for convenience.  This payload format uses the
   fields of the header in a manner consistent with that specification.

   When one NAL unit is encapsulated per RTP packet, the RECOMMENDED RTP
   payload format is specified in <a href="#section-5.6">Section 5.6</a>.  The RTP payload (and the
   settings for some RTP header bits) for aggregation packets and
   fragmentation units are specified in Sections <a href="#section-5.7.2">5.7.2</a> and <a href="#section-5.8">5.8</a>,
   respectively.

       0                   1                   2                   3
       0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1
      +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
      |V=2|P|X|  CC   |M|     PT      |       sequence number         |
      +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
      |                           timestamp                           |
      +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
      |           synchronization source (SSRC) identifier            |
      +=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+
      |            contributing source (CSRC) identifiers             |
      |                             ....                              |
      +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+

      Figure 1.  RTP header according to <a href="./rfc3550">RFC 3550</a>

   The RTP header information to be set according to this RTP payload
   format is set as follows:

   Marker bit (M): 1 bit
      Set for the very last packet of the access unit indicated by the
      RTP timestamp, in line with the normal use of the M bit in video



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      formats, to allow an efficient playout buffer handling.  For
      aggregation packets (STAP and MTAP), the marker bit in the RTP
      header MUST be set to the value that the marker bit of the last
      NAL unit of the aggregation packet would have been if it were
      transported in its own RTP packet.  Decoders MAY use this bit as
      an early indication of the last packet of an access unit but MUST
      NOT rely on this property.

         Informative note: Only one M bit is associated with an
         aggregation packet carrying multiple NAL units.  Thus, if a
         gateway has re-packetized an aggregation packet into several
         packets, it cannot reliably set the M bit of those packets.

   Payload type (PT): 7 bits
      The assignment of an RTP payload type for this new packet format
      is outside the scope of this document and will not be specified
      here.  The assignment of a payload type has to be performed either
      through the profile used or in a dynamic way.

   Sequence number (SN): 16 bits
      Set and used in accordance with <a href="./rfc3550">RFC 3550</a>.  For the single NALU and
      non-interleaved packetization mode, the sequence number is used to
      determine decoding order for the NALU.

   Timestamp: 32 bits
      The RTP timestamp is set to the sampling timestamp of the content.
      A 90 kHz clock rate MUST be used.

      If the NAL unit has no timing properties of its own (e.g.,
      parameter set and SEI NAL units), the RTP timestamp is set to the
      RTP timestamp of the primary coded picture of the access unit in
      which the NAL unit is included, according to Section 7.4.1.2 of
      [<a href="#ref-1" title="&quot;Advanced video coding for generic audiovisual services&quot;">1</a>].

      The setting of the RTP timestamp for MTAPs is defined in <a href="#section-5.7.2">Section</a>
      <a href="#section-5.7.2">5.7.2</a>.

      Receivers SHOULD ignore any picture timing SEI messages included
      in access units that have only one display timestamp.  Instead,
      receivers SHOULD use the RTP timestamp for synchronizing the
      display process.

      If one access unit has more than one display timestamp carried in
      a picture timing SEI message, then the information in the SEI
      message SHOULD be treated as relative to the RTP timestamp, with
      the earliest event occurring at the time given by the RTP
      timestamp and subsequent events later, as given by the difference
      in picture time values carried in the picture timing SEI message.



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      Let tSEI1, tSEI2, ..., tSEIn be the display timestamps carried in
      the SEI message of an access unit, where tSEI1 is the earliest of
      all such timestamps.  Let tmadjst() be a function that adjusts the
      SEI messages time scale to a 90-kHz time scale.  Let TS be the RTP
      timestamp.  Then, the display time for the event associated with
      tSEI1 is TS.  The display time for the event with tSEIx, where x
      is [2..n], is TS + tmadjst (tSEIx - tSEI1).

         Informative note: Displaying coded frames as fields is needed
         commonly in an operation known as 3:2 pulldown, in which film
         content that consists of coded frames is displayed on a display
         using interlaced scanning.  The picture timing SEI message
         enables carriage of multiple timestamps for the same coded
         picture, and therefore the 3:2 pulldown process is perfectly
         controlled.  The picture timing SEI message mechanism is
         necessary because only one timestamp per coded frame can be
         conveyed in the RTP timestamp.

<span class="h3"><a class="selflink" id="section-5.2" href="#section-5.2">5.2</a>.  Payload Structures</span>

   The payload format defines three different basic payload structures.
   A receiver can identify the payload structure by the first byte of
   the RTP packet payload, which co-serves as the RTP payload header
   and, in some cases, as the first byte of the payload.  This byte is
   always structured as a NAL unit header.  The NAL unit type field
   indicates which structure is present.  The possible structures are as
   follows.

   Single NAL Unit Packet: Contains only a single NAL unit in the
   payload.  The NAL header type field is equal to the original NAL unit
   type, i.e., in the range of 1 to 23, inclusive.  Specified in <a href="#section-5.6">Section</a>
   <a href="#section-5.6">5.6</a>.

   Aggregation Packet: Packet type used to aggregate multiple NAL units
   into a single RTP payload.  This packet exists in four versions, the
   Single-Time Aggregation Packet type A (STAP-A), the Single-Time
   Aggregation Packet type B (STAP-B), Multi-Time Aggregation Packet
   (MTAP) with 16-bit offset (MTAP16), and Multi-Time Aggregation Packet
   (MTAP) with 24-bit offset (MTAP24).  The NAL unit type numbers
   assigned for STAP-A, STAP-B, MTAP16, and MTAP24 are 24, 25, 26, and
   27, respectively.  Specified in <a href="#section-5.7">Section 5.7</a>.

   Fragmentation Unit: Used to fragment a single NAL unit over multiple
   RTP packets.  Exists with two versions, FU-A and FU-B, identified
   with the NAL unit type numbers 28 and 29, respectively.  Specified in
   <a href="#section-5.8">Section 5.8</a>.





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      Informative note: This specification does not limit the size of
      NAL units encapsulated in single NAL unit packets and
      fragmentation units.  The maximum size of a NAL unit encapsulated
      in any aggregation packet is 65535 bytes.

   Table 1 summarizes NAL unit types and the corresponding RTP packet
   types when each of these NAL units is directly used as a packet
   payload, and where the types are described in this memo.

      Table 1.  Summary of NAL unit types and the corresponding packet
                types

      NAL Unit  Packet    Packet Type Name               Section
      Type      Type
      -------------------------------------------------------------
      0        reserved                                     -
      1-23     NAL unit  Single NAL unit packet             5.6
      24       STAP-A    Single-time aggregation packet     5.7.1
      25       STAP-B    Single-time aggregation packet     5.7.1
      26       MTAP16    Multi-time aggregation packet      5.7.2
      27       MTAP24    Multi-time aggregation packet      5.7.2
      28       FU-A      Fragmentation unit                 5.8
      29       FU-B      Fragmentation unit                 5.8
      30-31    reserved                                     -

<span class="h3"><a class="selflink" id="section-5.3" href="#section-5.3">5.3</a>.  NAL Unit Header Usage</span>

   The structure and semantics of the NAL unit header were introduced in
   <a href="#section-1.3">Section 1.3</a>.  For convenience, the format of the NAL unit header is
   reprinted below:

      +---------------+
      |0|1|2|3|4|5|6|7|
      +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
      |F|NRI|  Type   |
      +---------------+

   This section specifies the semantics of F and NRI according to this
   specification.

   F:    1 bit
         forbidden_zero_bit.  A value of 0 indicates that the NAL unit
         type octet and payload should not contain bit errors or other
         syntax violations.  A value of 1 indicates that the NAL unit
         type octet and payload may contain bit errors or other syntax
         violations.





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         MANEs SHOULD set the F bit to indicate detected bit errors in
         the NAL unit.  The H.264 specification requires that the F bit
         be equal to 0.  When the F bit is set, the decoder is advised
         that bit errors or any other syntax violations may be present
         in the payload or in the NAL unit type octet.  The simplest
         decoder reaction to a NAL unit in which the F bit is equal to 1
         is to discard such a NAL unit and to conceal the lost data in
         the discarded NAL unit.

   NRI:  2 bits
         nal_ref_idc.  The semantics of value 00 and a non-zero value
         remain unchanged from the H.264 specification.  In other words,
         a value of 00 indicates that the content of the NAL unit is not
         used to reconstruct reference pictures for inter picture
         prediction.  Such NAL units can be discarded without risking
         the integrity of the reference pictures.  Values greater than
         00 indicate that the decoding of the NAL unit is required to
         maintain the integrity of the reference pictures.

         In addition to the specification above, according to this RTP
         payload specification, values of NRI indicate the relative
         transport priority, as determined by the encoder.  MANEs can
         use this information to protect more important NAL units better
         than they do less important NAL units.  The highest transport
         priority is 11, followed by 10, and then by 01; finally, 00 is
         the lowest.

            Informative note: Any non-zero value of NRI is handled
            identically in H.264 decoders.  Therefore, receivers need
            not manipulate the value of NRI when passing NAL units to
            the decoder.

         An H.264 encoder MUST set the value of NRI according to the
         H.264 specification (Subclause 7.4.1) when the value of
         nal_unit_type is in the range of 1 to 12, inclusive.  In
         particular, the H.264 specification requires that the value of
         NRI SHALL be equal to 0 for all NAL units having nal_unit_type
         equal to 6, 9, 10, 11, or 12.

         For NAL units having nal_unit_type equal to 7 or 8 (indicating
         a sequence parameter set or a picture parameter set,
         respectively), an H.264 encoder SHOULD set the value of NRI to
         11 (in binary format).  For coded slice NAL units of a primary
         coded picture having nal_unit_type equal to 5 (indicating a
         coded slice belonging to an IDR picture), an H.264 encoder
         SHOULD set the value of NRI to 11 (in binary format).





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         For a mapping of the remaining nal_unit_types to NRI values,
         the following example MAY be used and has been shown to be
         efficient in a certain environment [<a href="#ref-14" title="&quot;H.26L over IP: The IP-Network Adaptation Layer&quot;">14</a>].  Other mappings MAY
         also be desirable, depending on the application and the H.264
         profile in use.

            Informative note: Data partitioning is not available in
            certain profiles, e.g., in the Main or Baseline profiles.
            Consequently, the NAL unit types 2, 3, and 4 can occur only
            if the video bitstream conforms to a profile in which data
            partitioning is allowed and not in streams that conform to
            the Main or Baseline profiles.

      Table 2.  Example of NRI values for coded slices and coded slice
                data partitions of primary coded reference pictures

       NAL Unit Type     Content of NAL Unit              NRI (binary)
       ----------------------------------------------------------------
        1              non-IDR coded slice                         10
        2              Coded slice data partition A                10
        3              Coded slice data partition B                01
        4              Coded slice data partition C                01

            Informative note: As mentioned before, the NRI value of non-
            reference pictures is 00 as mandated by H.264.

         An H.264 encoder SHOULD set the value of NRI for coded slice
         and coded slice data partition NAL units of redundant coded
         reference pictures equal to 01 (in binary format).

         Definitions of the values for NRI for NAL unit types 24 to 29,
         inclusive, are given in Sections <a href="#section-5.7">5.7</a> and <a href="#section-5.8">5.8</a> of this memo.

         No recommendation for the value of NRI is given for NAL units
         having nal_unit_type in the range of 13 to 23, inclusive,
         because these values are reserved for ITU-T and ISO/IEC.  No
         recommendation for the value of NRI is given for NAL units
         having nal_unit_type equal to 0 or in the range of 30 to 31,
         inclusive, as the semantics of these values are not specified
         in this memo.











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<span class="h3"><a class="selflink" id="section-5.4" href="#section-5.4">5.4</a>.  Packetization Modes</span>

   This memo specifies three cases of packetization modes:

   o  Single NAL unit mode

   o  Non-interleaved mode

   o  Interleaved mode

   The single NAL unit mode is targeted for conversational systems that
   comply with ITU-T Recommendation H.241 [<a href="#ref-3" title="&quot;Extended video procedures and control signals for H.300-series terminals&quot;">3</a>]  (see <a href="#section-12.1">Section 12.1</a>).  The
   non-interleaved mode is targeted for conversational systems that may
   not comply with ITU-T Recommendation H.241.  In the non-interleaved
   mode, NAL units are transmitted in NAL unit decoding order.  The
   interleaved mode is targeted for systems that do not require very low
   end-to-end latency.  The interleaved mode allows transmission of NAL
   units out of NAL unit decoding order.

   The packetization mode in use MAY be signaled by the value of the
   OPTIONAL packetization-mode media type parameter.  The used
   packetization mode governs which NAL unit types are allowed in RTP
   payloads.  Table 3 summarizes the allowed packet payload types for
   each packetization mode.  Packetization modes are explained in more
   detail in <a href="#section-6">Section 6</a>.

      Table 3.  Summary of allowed NAL unit types for each packetization
                mode (yes = allowed, no = disallowed, ig = ignore)

      Payload Packet    Single NAL    Non-Interleaved    Interleaved
      Type    Type      Unit Mode           Mode             Mode
      -------------------------------------------------------------
      0      reserved      ig               ig               ig
      1-23   NAL unit     yes              yes               no
      24     STAP-A        no              yes               no
      25     STAP-B        no               no              yes
      26     MTAP16        no               no              yes
      27     MTAP24        no               no              yes
      28     FU-A          no              yes              yes
      29     FU-B          no               no              yes
      30-31  reserved      ig               ig               ig

   Some NAL unit or payload type values (indicated as reserved in Table
   3) are reserved for future extensions.  NAL units of those types
   SHOULD NOT be sent by a sender (direct as packet payloads, as
   aggregation units in aggregation packets, or as fragmented units in
   FU packets) and MUST be ignored by a receiver.  For example, the
   payload types 1-23, with the associated packet type "NAL unit", are



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   allowed in "Single NAL Unit Mode" and in "Non-Interleaved Mode" but
   disallowed in "Interleaved Mode".  However, NAL units of NAL unit
   types 1-23 can be used in "Interleaved Mode" as aggregation units in
   STAP-B, MTAP16, and MTAP24 packets as well as fragmented units in FU-
   A and FU-B packets.  Similarly, NAL units of NAL unit types 1-23 can
   also be used in the "Non-Interleaved Mode" as aggregation units in
   STAP-A packets or fragmented units in FU-A packets, in addition to
   being directly used as packet payloads.

<span class="h3"><a class="selflink" id="section-5.5" href="#section-5.5">5.5</a>.  Decoding Order Number (DON)</span>

   In the interleaved packetization mode, the transmission order of NAL
   units is allowed to differ from the decoding order of the NAL units.
   Decoding order number (DON) is a field in the payload structure or a
   derived variable that indicates the NAL unit decoding order.
   Rationale and examples of use cases for transmission out of decoding
   order and for the use of DON are given in <a href="#section-13">Section 13</a>.

   The coupling of transmission and decoding order is controlled by the
   OPTIONAL sprop-interleaving-depth media type parameter as follows.
   When the value of the OPTIONAL sprop-interleaving-depth media type
   parameter is equal to 0 (explicitly or per default), the transmission
   order of NAL units MUST conform to the NAL unit decoding order.  When
   the value of the OPTIONAL sprop-interleaving-depth media type
   parameter is greater than 0:

   o  the order of NAL units in an MTAP16 and an MTAP24 is not required
      to be the NAL unit decoding order, and

   o  the order of NAL units generated by de-packetizing STAP-Bs, MTAPs,
      and FUs in two consecutive packets is not required to be the NAL
      unit decoding order.

   The RTP payload structures for a single NAL unit packet, an STAP-A,
   and an FU-A do not include DON.  STAP-B and FU-B structures include
   DON, and the structure of MTAPs enables derivation of DON, as
   specified in <a href="#section-5.7.2">Section 5.7.2</a>.

      Informative note: When an FU-A occurs in interleaved mode, it
      always follows an FU-B, which sets its DON.

      Informative note: If a transmitter wants to encapsulate a single
      NAL unit per packet and transmit packets out of their decoding
      order, STAP-B packet type can be used.

   In the single NAL unit packetization mode, the transmission order of
   NAL units, determined by the RTP sequence number, MUST be the same as
   their NAL unit decoding order.  In the non-interleaved packetization



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   mode, the transmission order of NAL units in single NAL unit packets,
   STAP-As, and FU-As MUST be the same as their NAL unit decoding order.
   The NAL units within an STAP MUST appear in the NAL unit decoding
   order.  Thus, the decoding order is first provided through the
   implicit order within an STAP and then provided through the RTP
   sequence number for the order between STAPs, FUs, and single NAL unit
   packets.

   The signaling of the value of DON for NAL units carried in STAP-B,
   MTAP, and a series of fragmentation units starting with an FU-B is
   specified in Sections <a href="#section-5.7.1">5.7.1</a>, <a href="#section-5.7.2">5.7.2</a>, and <a href="#section-5.8">5.8</a>, respectively.  The DON
   value of the first NAL unit in transmission order MAY be set to any
   value.  Values of DON are in the range of 0 to 65535, inclusive.
   After reaching the maximum value, the value of DON wraps around to 0.

   The decoding order of two NAL units contained in any STAP-B, MTAP, or
   a series of fragmentation units starting with an FU-B is determined
   as follows.  Let DON(i) be the decoding order number of the NAL unit
   having index i in the transmission order.  Function don_diff(m,n) is
   specified as follows:

      If DON(m) == DON(n), don_diff(m,n) = 0

      If (DON(m) &lt; DON(n) and DON(n) - DON(m) &lt; 32768),
      don_diff(m,n) = DON(n) - DON(m)

      If (DON(m) &gt; DON(n) and DON(m) - DON(n) &gt;= 32768),
      don_diff(m,n) = 65536 - DON(m) + DON(n)

      If (DON(m) &lt; DON(n) and DON(n) - DON(m) &gt;= 32768),
      don_diff(m,n) = - (DON(m) + 65536 - DON(n))

      If (DON(m) &gt; DON(n) and DON(m) - DON(n) &lt; 32768),
      don_diff(m,n) = - (DON(m) - DON(n))

   A positive value of don_diff(m,n) indicates that the NAL unit having
   transmission order index n follows, in decoding order, the NAL unit
   having transmission order index m.  When don_diff(m,n) is equal to 0,
   the NAL unit decoding order of the two NAL units can be in either
   order.  A negative value of don_diff(m,n) indicates that the NAL unit
   having transmission order index n precedes, in decoding order, the
   NAL unit having transmission order index m.

   Values of DON-related fields (DON, DONB, and DOND; see <a href="#section-5.7">Section 5.7</a>)
   MUST be such that the decoding order determined by the values of DON,
   as specified above, conforms to the NAL unit decoding order.





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   If the order of two NAL units in NAL unit decoding order is switched
   and the new order does not conform to the NAL unit decoding order,
   the NAL units MUST NOT have the same value of DON.  If the order of
   two consecutive NAL units in the NAL unit stream is switched and the
   new order still conforms to the NAL unit decoding order, the NAL
   units MAY have the same value of DON.  For example, when arbitrary
   slice order is allowed by the video coding profile in use, all the
   coded slice NAL units of a coded picture are allowed to have the same
   value of DON.  Consequently, NAL units having the same value of DON
   can be decoded in any order, and two NAL units having a different
   value of DON should be passed to the decoder in the order specified
   above.  When two consecutive NAL units in the NAL unit decoding order
   have a different value of DON, the value of DON for the second NAL
   unit in decoding order SHOULD be the value of DON for the first,
   incremented by one.

   An example of the de-packetization process to recover the NAL unit
   decoding order is given in <a href="#section-7">Section 7</a>.

      Informative note: Receivers should not expect that the absolute
      difference of values of DON for two consecutive NAL units in the
      NAL unit decoding order will be equal to one, even in error-free
      transmission.  An increment by one is not required, as at the time
      of associating values of DON to NAL units, it may not be known
      whether all NAL units are delivered to the receiver.  For example,
      a gateway may not forward coded slice NAL units of non-reference
      pictures or SEI NAL units when there is a shortage of bitrate in
      the network to which the packets are forwarded.  In another
      example, a live broadcast is interrupted by pre-encoded content,
      such as commercials, from time to time.  The first intra picture
      of a pre-encoded clip is transmitted in advance to ensure that it
      is readily available in the receiver.  When transmitting the first
      intra picture, the originator does not exactly know how many NAL
      units will be encoded before the first intra picture of the pre-
      encoded clip follows in decoding order.  Thus, the values of DON
      for the NAL units of the first intra picture of the pre-encoded
      clip have to be estimated when they are transmitted, and gaps in
      values of DON may occur.

<span class="h3"><a class="selflink" id="section-5.6" href="#section-5.6">5.6</a>.  Single NAL Unit Packet</span>

   The single NAL unit packet defined here MUST contain only one NAL
   unit of the types defined in [<a href="#ref-1" title="&quot;Advanced video coding for generic audiovisual services&quot;">1</a>].  This means that neither an
   aggregation packet nor a fragmentation unit can be used within a
   single NAL unit packet.  A NAL unit stream composed by de-packetizing
   single NAL unit packets in RTP sequence number order MUST conform to
   the NAL unit decoding order.  The structure of the single NAL unit
   packet is shown in Figure 2.



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      Informative note: The first byte of a NAL unit co-serves as the
      RTP payload header.

     0                   1                   2                   3
     0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1
    +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
    |F|NRI|  Type   |                                               |
    +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+                                               |
    |                                                               |
    |               Bytes 2..n of a single NAL unit                 |
    |                                                               |
    |                               +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
    |                               :...OPTIONAL RTP padding        |
    +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+

    Figure 2.  RTP payload format for single NAL unit packet

<span class="h3"><a class="selflink" id="section-5.7" href="#section-5.7">5.7</a>.  Aggregation Packets</span>

   Aggregation packets are the NAL unit aggregation scheme of this
   payload specification.  The scheme is introduced to reflect the
   dramatically different MTU sizes of two key target networks: wireline
   IP networks (with an MTU size that is often limited by the Ethernet
   MTU size, roughly 1500 bytes) and IP-based or non-IP-based (e.g.,
   ITU-T H.324/M) wireless communication systems with preferred
   transmission unit sizes of 254 bytes or less.  To prevent media
   transcoding between the two worlds, and to avoid undesirable
   packetization overhead, a NAL unit aggregation scheme is introduced.

   Two types of aggregation packets are defined by this specification:

   o  Single-time aggregation packet (STAP): aggregates NAL units with
      identical NALU-times.  Two types of STAPs are defined, one without
      DON (STAP-A) and another including DON (STAP-B).

   o  Multi-time aggregation packet (MTAP): aggregates NAL units with
      potentially differing NALU-times.  Two different MTAPs are
      defined, differing in the length of the NAL unit timestamp offset.

   Each NAL unit to be carried in an aggregation packet is encapsulated
   in an aggregation unit.  Please see below for the four different
   aggregation units and their characteristics.









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   The structure of the RTP payload format for aggregation packets is
   presented in Figure 3.

     0                   1                   2                   3
     0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1
    +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
    |F|NRI|  Type   |                                               |
    +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+                                               |
    |                                                               |
    |             one or more aggregation units                     |
    |                                                               |
    |                               +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
    |                               :...OPTIONAL RTP padding        |
    +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+

    Figure 3.  RTP payload format for aggregation packets

   MTAPs and STAPs share the following packetization rules:

   o  The RTP timestamp MUST be set to the earliest of the NALU-times of
      all the NAL units to be aggregated.

   o  The type field of the NAL unit type octet MUST be set to the
      appropriate value, as indicated in Table 4.

   o  The F bit MUST be cleared if all F bits of the aggregated NAL
      units are zero; otherwise, it MUST be set.

   o  The value of NRI MUST be the maximum of all the NAL units carried
      in the aggregation packet.

                 Table 4.  Type field for STAPs and MTAPs

      Type   Packet    Timestamp offset   DON-related fields
                       field length       (DON, DONB, DOND)
                       (in bits)          present
      --------------------------------------------------------
      24     STAP-A       0                 no
      25     STAP-B       0                 yes
      26     MTAP16      16                 yes
      27     MTAP24      24                 yes

   The marker bit in the RTP header is set to the value that the marker
   bit of the last NAL unit of the aggregated packet would have if it
   were transported in its own RTP packet.






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   The payload of an aggregation packet consists of one or more
   aggregation units.  See Sections <a href="#section-5.7.1">5.7.1</a> and <a href="#section-5.7.2">5.7.2</a> for the four
   different types of aggregation units.  An aggregation packet can
   carry as many aggregation units as necessary; however, the total
   amount of data in an aggregation packet obviously MUST fit into an IP
   packet, and the size SHOULD be chosen so that the resulting IP packet
   is smaller than the MTU size.  An aggregation packet MUST NOT contain
   fragmentation units, as specified in <a href="#section-5.8">Section 5.8</a>.  Aggregation
   packets MUST NOT be nested; that is, an aggregation packet MUST NOT
   contain another aggregation packet.

<span class="h4"><a class="selflink" id="section-5.7.1" href="#section-5.7.1">5.7.1</a>.  Single-Time Aggregation Packet (STAP)</span>

   A single-time aggregation packet (STAP) SHOULD be used whenever NAL
   units are aggregated that all share the same NALU-time.  The payload
   of an STAP-A does not include DON and consists of at least one
   single-time aggregation unit, as presented in Figure 4.  The payload
   of an STAP-B consists of a 16-bit unsigned decoding order number
   (DON) (in network byte order) followed by at least one single-time
   aggregation unit, as presented in Figure 5.

     0                   1                   2                   3
     0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1
    +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
                    :                                               |
    +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+                                               |
    |                                                               |
    |                single-time aggregation units                  |
    |                                                               |
    |                               +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
    |                               :
    +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+

    Figure 4.  Payload format for STAP-A

















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     0                   1                   2                   3
     0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1
    +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
                    :  decoding order number (DON)  |               |
    +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+               |
    |                                                               |
    |                single-time aggregation units                  |
    |                                                               |
    |                               +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
    |                               :
    +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+

    Figure 5.  Payload format for STAP-B

   The DON field specifies the value of DON for the first NAL unit in an
   STAP-B in transmission order.  For each successive NAL unit in
   appearance order in an STAP-B, the value of DON is equal to (the
   value of DON of the previous NAL unit in the STAP-B + 1) % 65536, in
   which '%' stands for the modulo operation.

   A single-time aggregation unit consists of 16-bit unsigned size
   information (in network byte order) that indicates the size of the
   following NAL unit in bytes (excluding these two octets, but
   including the NAL unit type octet of the NAL unit), followed by the
   NAL unit itself, including its NAL unit type byte.  A single-time
   aggregation unit is byte aligned within the RTP payload, but it may
   not be aligned on a 32-bit word boundary.  Figure 6 presents the
   structure of the single-time aggregation unit.

     0                   1                   2                   3
     0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1
    +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
                    :        NAL unit size          |               |
    +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+               |
    |                                                               |
    |                           NAL unit                            |
    |                                                               |
    |                               +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
    |                               :
    +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+

    Figure 6.  Structure for single-time aggregation unit









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   Figure 7 presents an example of an RTP packet that contains an STAP-
   A.  The STAP contains two single-time aggregation units, labeled as 1
   and 2 in the figure.

     0                   1                   2                   3
     0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1
    +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
    |                          RTP Header                           |
    +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
    |STAP-A NAL HDR |         NALU 1 Size           | NALU 1 HDR    |
    +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
    |                         NALU 1 Data                           |
    :                                                               :
    +               +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
    |               | NALU 2 Size                   | NALU 2 HDR    |
    +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
    |                         NALU 2 Data                           |
    :                                                               :
    |                               +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
    |                               :...OPTIONAL RTP padding        |
    +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+

    Figure 7.  An example of an RTP packet including an STAP-A
               containing two single-time aggregation units



























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   Figure 8 presents an example of an RTP packet that contains an STAP-
   B.  The STAP contains two single-time aggregation units, labeled as 1
   and 2 in the figure.

     0                   1                   2                   3
     0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1
    +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
    |                          RTP Header                           |
    +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
    |STAP-B NAL HDR | DON                           | NALU 1 Size   |
    +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
    | NALU 1 Size   | NALU 1 HDR    | NALU 1 Data                   |
    +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+                               +
    :                                                               :
    +               +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
    |               | NALU 2 Size                   | NALU 2 HDR    |
    +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
    |                       NALU 2 Data                             |
    :                                                               :
    |                               +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
    |                               :...OPTIONAL RTP padding        |
    +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+

    Figure 8.  An example of an RTP packet including an STAP-B
               containing two single-time aggregation units

<span class="h4"><a class="selflink" id="section-5.7.2" href="#section-5.7.2">5.7.2</a>.  Multi-Time Aggregation Packets (MTAPs)</span>

   The NAL unit payload of MTAPs consists of a 16-bit unsigned decoding
   order number base (DONB) (in network byte order) and one or more
   multi-time aggregation units, as presented in Figure 9.  DONB MUST
   contain the value of DON for the first NAL unit in the NAL unit
   decoding order among the NAL units of the MTAP.

      Informative note: The first NAL unit in the NAL unit decoding
      order is not necessarily the first NAL unit in the order in which
      the NAL units are encapsulated in an MTAP.














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     0                   1                   2                   3
     0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1
    +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
                    :  decoding order number base   |               |
    +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+               |
    |                                                               |
    |                 multi-time aggregation units                  |
    |                                                               |
    |                               +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
    |                               :
    +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+

    Figure 9.  NAL unit payload format for MTAPs

   Two different multi-time aggregation units are defined in this
   specification.  Both of them consist of 16 bits of unsigned size
   information of the following NAL unit (in network byte order), an
   8-bit unsigned decoding order number difference (DOND), and n bits
   (in network byte order) of timestamp offset (TS offset) for this NAL
   unit, whereby n can be 16 or 24.  The choice between the different
   MTAP types (MTAP16 and MTAP24) is application dependent: the larger
   the timestamp offset is, the higher the flexibility of the MTAP, but
   the overhead is also higher.

   The structure of the multi-time aggregation units for MTAP16 and
   MTAP24 are presented in Figures 10 and 11, respectively.  The
   starting or ending position of an aggregation unit within a packet is
   not required to be on a 32-bit word boundary.  The DON of the NAL
   unit contained in a multi-time aggregation unit is equal to (DONB +
   DOND) % 65536, in which % denotes the modulo operation.  This memo
   does not specify how the NAL units within an MTAP are ordered, but,
   in most cases, NAL unit decoding order SHOULD be used.

   The timestamp offset field MUST be set to a value equal to the value
   of the following formula: if the NALU-time is larger than or equal to
   the RTP timestamp of the packet, then the timestamp offset equals
   (the NALU-time of the NAL unit - the RTP timestamp of the packet).
   If the NALU-time is smaller than the RTP timestamp of the packet,
   then the timestamp offset is equal to the NALU-time + (2^32 - the RTP
   timestamp of the packet).











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     0                   1                   2                   3
     0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1
    +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
    :        NAL unit size          |      DOND     |  TS offset    |
    +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
    |  TS offset    |                                               |
    +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+              NAL unit                         |
    |                                                               |
    |                               +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
    |                               :
    +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+

    Figure 10.  Multi-time aggregation unit for MTAP16


     0                   1                   2                   3
     0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1
    +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
    :        NAL unit size         |      DOND     |  TS offset    |
    +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
    |         TS offset             |                               |
    +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+                               |
    |                              NAL unit                         |
    |                               +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
    |                               :
    +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+

    Figure 11.  Multi-time aggregation unit for MTAP24

   For the "earliest" multi-time aggregation unit in an MTAP, the
   timestamp offset MUST be zero.  Hence, the RTP timestamp of the MTAP
   itself is identical to the earliest NALU-time.

      Informative note: The "earliest" multi-time aggregation unit is
      the one that would have the smallest extended RTP timestamp among
      all the aggregation units of an MTAP if the NAL units contained in
      the aggregation units were encapsulated in single NAL unit
      packets.  An extended timestamp is a timestamp that has more than
      32 bits and is capable of counting the wraparound of the timestamp
      field, thus enabling one to determine the smallest value if the
      timestamp wraps.  Such an "earliest" aggregation unit may not be
      the first one in the order in which the aggregation units are
      encapsulated in an MTAP.  The "earliest" NAL unit need not be the
      same as the first NAL unit in the NAL unit decoding order either.

   Figure 12 presents an example of an RTP packet that contains a multi-
   time aggregation packet of type MTAP16 that contains two multi-time
   aggregation units, labeled as 1 and 2 in the figure.



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     0                   1                   2                   3
     0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1
    +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
    |                          RTP Header                           |
    +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
    |MTAP16 NAL HDR |  decoding order number base   | NALU 1 Size   |
    +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
    |  NALU 1 Size  |  NALU 1 DOND  |       NALU 1 TS offset        |
    +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
    |  NALU 1 HDR   |  NALU 1 DATA                                  |
    +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+                                               +
    :                                                               :
    +               +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
    |               | NALU 2 SIZE                   |  NALU 2 DOND  |
    +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
    |       NALU 2 TS offset        |  NALU 2 HDR   |  NALU 2 DATA  |
    +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+               |
    :                                                               :
    |                               +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
    |                               :...OPTIONAL RTP padding        |
    +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+

    Figure 12.  An RTP packet including a multi-time aggregation
                packet of type MTAP16 containing two multi-time
                aggregation units


























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   Figure 13 presents an example of an RTP packet that contains a multi-
   time aggregation packet of type MTAP24 that contains two multi-time
   aggregation units, labeled as 1 and 2 in the figure.

     0                   1                   2                   3
     0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1
    +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
    |                          RTP Header                           |
    +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
    |MTAP24 NAL HDR |  decoding order number base   | NALU 1 Size   |
    +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
    |  NALU 1 Size  |  NALU 1 DOND  |       NALU 1 TS offs          |
    +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
    |NALU 1 TS offs |  NALU 1 HDR   |  NALU 1 DATA                  |
    +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+                               +
    :                                                               :
    +               +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
    |               | NALU 2 SIZE                   |  NALU 2 DOND  |
    +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
    |       NALU 2 TS offset                        |  NALU 2 HDR   |
    +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
    |  NALU 2 DATA                                                  |
    :                                                               :
    |                               +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
    |                               :...OPTIONAL RTP padding        |
    +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+

    Figure 13.  An RTP packet including a multi-time aggregation
                packet of type MTAP24 containing two multi-time
                aggregation units

<span class="h3"><a class="selflink" id="section-5.8" href="#section-5.8">5.8</a>.  Fragmentation Units (FUs)</span>

   This payload type allows fragmenting a NAL unit into several RTP
   packets.  Doing so on the application layer instead of relying on
   lower-layer fragmentation (e.g., by IP) has the following advantages:

   o  The payload format is capable of transporting NAL units bigger
      than 64 kbytes over an IPv4 network that may be present in pre-
      recorded video, particularly in High-Definition formats (there is
      a limit of the number of slices per picture, which results in a
      limit of NAL units per picture, which may result in big NAL
      units).

   o  The fragmentation mechanism allows fragmenting a single NAL unit
      and applying generic forward error correction as described in
      <a href="#section-12.5">Section 12.5</a>.




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   Fragmentation is defined only for a single NAL unit and not for any
   aggregation packets.  A fragment of a NAL unit consists of an integer
   number of consecutive octets of that NAL unit.  Each octet of the NAL
   unit MUST be part of exactly one fragment of that NAL unit.
   Fragments of the same NAL unit MUST be sent in consecutive order with
   ascending RTP sequence numbers (with no other RTP packets within the
   same RTP packet stream being sent between the first and last
   fragment).  Similarly, a NAL unit MUST be reassembled in RTP sequence
   number order.

   When a NAL unit is fragmented and conveyed within fragmentation units
   (FUs), it is referred to as a fragmented NAL unit.  STAPs and MTAPs
   MUST NOT be fragmented.  FUs MUST NOT be nested; that is, an FU MUST
   NOT contain another FU.

   The RTP timestamp of an RTP packet carrying an FU is set to the NALU-
   time of the fragmented NAL unit.

   Figure 14 presents the RTP payload format for FU-As.  An FU-A
   consists of a fragmentation unit indicator of one octet, a
   fragmentation unit header of one octet, and a fragmentation unit
   payload.

     0                   1                   2                   3
     0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1
    +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
    | FU indicator  |   FU header   |                               |
    +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+                               |
    |                                                               |
    |                         FU payload                            |
    |                                                               |
    |                               +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
    |                               :...OPTIONAL RTP padding        |
    +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+

    Figure 14.  RTP payload format for FU-A

   Figure 15 presents the RTP payload format for FU-Bs.  An FU-B
   consists of a fragmentation unit indicator of one octet, a
   fragmentation unit header of one octet, a decoding order number (DON)
   (in network byte order), and a fragmentation unit payload.  In other
   words, the structure of FU-B is the same as the structure of FU-A,
   except for the additional DON field.








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     0                   1                   2                   3
     0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1
    +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
    | FU indicator  |   FU header   |               DON             |
    +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-|
    |                                                               |
    |                         FU payload                            |
    |                                                               |
    |                               +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
    |                               :...OPTIONAL RTP padding        |
    +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+

    Figure 15.  RTP payload format for FU-B

   NAL unit type FU-B MUST be used in the interleaved packetization mode
   for the first fragmentation unit of a fragmented NAL unit.  NAL unit
   type FU-B MUST NOT be used in any other case.  In other words, in the
   interleaved packetization mode, each NALU that is fragmented has an
   FU-B as the first fragment, followed by one or more FU-A fragments.

   The FU indicator octet has the following format:

       +---------------+
       |0|1|2|3|4|5|6|7|
       +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
       |F|NRI|  Type   |
       +---------------+

   Values equal to 28 and 29 in the type field of the FU indicator octet
   identify an FU-A and an FU-B, respectively.  The use of the F bit is
   described in <a href="#section-5.3">Section 5.3</a>.  The value of the NRI field MUST be set
   according to the value of the NRI field in the fragmented NAL unit.

   The FU header has the following format:

      +---------------+
      |0|1|2|3|4|5|6|7|
      +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
      |S|E|R|  Type   |
      +---------------+

   S:     1 bit
          When set to one, the Start bit indicates the start of a
          fragmented NAL unit.  When the following FU payload is not the
          start of a fragmented NAL unit payload, the Start bit is set
          to zero.





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   E:     1 bit
          When set to one, the End bit indicates the end of a fragmented
          NAL unit, i.e., the last byte of the payload is also the last
          byte of the fragmented NAL unit.  When the following FU
          payload is not the last fragment of a fragmented NAL unit, the
          End bit is set to zero.

   R:     1 bit
          The Reserved bit MUST be equal to 0 and MUST be ignored by the
          receiver.

   Type:  5 bits
          The NAL unit payload type as defined in Table 7-1 of [<a href="#ref-1" title="&quot;Advanced video coding for generic audiovisual services&quot;">1</a>].

   The value of DON in FU-Bs is selected as described in <a href="#section-5.5">Section 5.5</a>.

      Informative note: The DON field in FU-Bs allows gateways to
      fragment NAL units to FU-Bs without organizing the incoming NAL
      units to the NAL unit decoding order.

   A fragmented NAL unit MUST NOT be transmitted in one FU; that is, the
   Start bit and End bit MUST NOT both be set to one in the same FU
   header.

   The FU payload consists of fragments of the payload of the fragmented
   NAL unit so that if the fragmentation unit payloads of consecutive
   FUs are sequentially concatenated, the payload of the fragmented NAL
   unit can be reconstructed.  The NAL unit type octet of the fragmented
   NAL unit is not included as such in the fragmentation unit payload,
   but rather the information of the NAL unit type octet of the
   fragmented NAL unit is conveyed in the F and NRI fields of the FU
   indicator octet of the fragmentation unit and in the type field of
   the FU header.  An FU payload MAY have any number of octets and MAY
   be empty.

      Informative note: Empty FUs are allowed to reduce the latency of a
      certain class of senders in nearly lossless environments.  These
      senders can be characterized in that they packetize NALU fragments
      before the NALU is completely generated and, hence, before the
      NALU size is known.  If zero-length NALU fragments were not
      allowed, the sender would have to generate at least one bit of
      data of the following fragment before the current fragment could
      be sent.  Due to the characteristics of H.264, where sometimes
      several macroblocks occupy zero bits, this is undesirable and can
      add delay.  However, the (potential) use of zero-length NALU
      fragments should be carefully weighed against the increased risk
      of the loss of at least a part of the NALU because of the
      additional packets employed for its transmission.



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   If a fragmentation unit is lost, the receiver SHOULD discard all
   following fragmentation units in transmission order corresponding to
   the same fragmented NAL unit.

   A receiver in an endpoint or in a MANE MAY aggregate the first n-1
   fragments of a NAL unit to an (incomplete) NAL unit, even if fragment
   n of that NAL unit is not received.  In this case, the
   forbidden_zero_bit of the NAL unit MUST be set to one to indicate a
   syntax violation.

<span class="h2"><a class="selflink" id="section-6" href="#section-6">6</a>.  Packetization Rules</span>

   The packetization modes are introduced in <a href="#section-5.2">Section 5.2</a>.  The
   packetization rules common to more than one of the packetization
   modes are specified in <a href="#section-6.1">Section 6.1</a>.  The packetization rules for the
   single NAL unit mode, the non-interleaved mode, and the interleaved
   mode are specified in Sections <a href="#section-6.2">6.2</a>, <a href="#section-6.3">6.3</a>, and <a href="#section-6.4">6.4</a>, respectively.

<span class="h3"><a class="selflink" id="section-6.1" href="#section-6.1">6.1</a>.  Common Packetization Rules</span>

   All senders MUST enforce the following packetization rules,
   regardless of the packetization mode in use:

   o  Coded slice NAL units or coded slice data partition NAL units
      belonging to the same coded picture (and thus sharing the same RTP
      timestamp value) MAY be sent in any order; however, for delay-
      critical systems, they SHOULD be sent in their original decoding
      order to minimize the delay.  Note that the decoding order is the
      order of the NAL units in the bitstream.

   o  Parameter sets are handled in accordance with the rules and
      recommendations given in <a href="#section-8.4">Section 8.4</a>.

   o  MANEs MUST NOT duplicate any NAL unit except for sequence or
      picture parameter set NAL units, as neither this memo nor the
      H.264 specification provides means to identify duplicated NAL
      units.  Sequence and picture parameter set NAL units MAY be
      duplicated to make their correct reception more probable, but any
      such duplication MUST NOT affect the contents of any active
      sequence or picture parameter set.  Duplication SHOULD be
      performed on the application layer and not by duplicating RTP
      packets (with identical sequence numbers).









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   Senders using the non-interleaved mode and the interleaved mode MUST
   enforce the following packetization rule:

   o  In an RTP translator, MANEs MAY convert single NAL unit packets
      into one aggregation packet, convert an aggregation packet into
      several single NAL unit packets, or mix both concepts.  The RTP
      translator SHOULD take into account at least the following
      parameters: path MTU size, unequal protection mechanisms (e.g.,
      through packet-based FEC according to <a href="./rfc5109">RFC 5109</a> [<a href="#ref-18" title="&quot;RTP Payload Format for Generic Forward Error Correction&quot;">18</a>], especially
      for sequence and picture parameter set NAL units and coded slice
      data partition A NAL units), bearable latency of the system, and
      buffering capabilities of the receiver.

         Informative note: An RTP translator is required to handle RTP
         Control Protocol (RTCP) as per <a href="./rfc3550">RFC 3550</a>.

<span class="h3"><a class="selflink" id="section-6.2" href="#section-6.2">6.2</a>.  Single NAL Unit Mode</span>

   This mode is in use when the value of the OPTIONAL packetization-mode
   media type parameter is equal to 0 or the packetization-mode is not
   present.  All receivers MUST support this mode.  It is primarily
   intended for low-delay applications that are compatible with systems
   using ITU-T Recommendation H.241 [<a href="#ref-3" title="&quot;Extended video procedures and control signals for H.300-series terminals&quot;">3</a>] (see <a href="#section-12.1">Section 12.1</a>).  Only single
   NAL unit packets MAY be used in this mode.  STAPs, MTAPs, and FUs
   MUST NOT be used.  The transmission order of single NAL unit packets
   MUST comply with the NAL unit decoding order.

<span class="h3"><a class="selflink" id="section-6.3" href="#section-6.3">6.3</a>.  Non-Interleaved Mode</span>

   This mode is in use when the value of the OPTIONAL packetization-mode
   media type parameter is equal to 1.  This mode SHOULD be supported.
   It is primarily intended for low-delay applications.  Only single NAL
   unit packets, STAP-As, and FU-As MAY be used in this mode.  STAP-Bs,
   MTAPs, and FU-Bs MUST NOT be used.  The transmission order of NAL
   units MUST comply with the NAL unit decoding order.

<span class="h3"><a class="selflink" id="section-6.4" href="#section-6.4">6.4</a>.  Interleaved Mode</span>

   This mode is in use when the value of the OPTIONAL packetization-mode
   media type parameter is equal to 2.  Some receivers MAY support this
   mode.  STAP-Bs, MTAPs, FU-As, and FU-Bs MAY be used.  STAP-As and
   single NAL unit packets MUST NOT be used.  The transmission order of
   packets and NAL units is constrained as specified in <a href="#section-5.5">Section 5.5</a>.








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<span class="h2"><a class="selflink" id="section-7" href="#section-7">7</a>.  De-Packetization Process</span>

   The de-packetization process is implementation dependent.  Therefore,
   the following description should be seen as an example of a suitable
   implementation.  Other schemes may also be used as long as the output
   for the same input is the same as the process described below.  The
   same output means that the resulting NAL units and their order are
   identical.  Optimizations relative to the described algorithms are
   likely possible.  <a href="#section-7.1">Section 7.1</a> presents the de-packetization process
   for the single NAL unit and non-interleaved packetization modes,
   whereas <a href="#section-7.2">Section 7.2</a> describes the process for the interleaved mode.
   <a href="#section-7.3">Section 7.3</a> includes additional de-packetization guidelines for
   intelligent receivers.

   All normal RTP mechanisms related to buffer management apply.  In
   particular, duplicated or outdated RTP packets (as indicated by the
   RTP sequence number and the RTP timestamp) are removed.  To determine
   the exact time for decoding, factors such as a possible intentional
   delay to allow for proper inter-stream synchronization must be
   factored in.

<span class="h3"><a class="selflink" id="section-7.1" href="#section-7.1">7.1</a>.  Single NAL Unit and Non-Interleaved Mode</span>

   The receiver includes a receiver buffer to compensate for
   transmission delay jitter.  The receiver stores incoming packets in
   reception order into the receiver buffer.  Packets are de-packetized
   in RTP sequence number order.  If a de-packetized packet is a single
   NAL unit packet, the NAL unit contained in the packet is passed
   directly to the decoder.  If a de-packetized packet is an STAP-A, the
   NAL units contained in the packet are passed to the decoder in the
   order in which they are encapsulated in the packet.  For all the FU-A
   packets containing fragments of a single NAL unit, the de-packetized
   fragments are concatenated in their sending order to recover the NAL
   unit, which is then passed to the decoder.

      Informative note: If the decoder supports arbitrary slice order,
      coded slices of a picture can be passed to the decoder in any
      order, regardless of their reception and transmission order.

<span class="h3"><a class="selflink" id="section-7.2" href="#section-7.2">7.2</a>.  Interleaved Mode</span>

   The general concept behind these de-packetization rules is to reorder
   NAL units from transmission order to the NAL unit decoding order.

   The receiver includes a receiver buffer, which is used to compensate
   for transmission delay jitter and to reorder NAL units from
   transmission order to the NAL unit decoding order.  In this section,
   the receiver operation is described under the assumption that there



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   is no transmission delay jitter.  To differentiate the receiver
   buffer from a practical receiver buffer that is also used for
   compensation of transmission delay jitter, the receiver buffer is
   hereafter called the de-interleaving buffer in this section.
   Receivers SHOULD also prepare for transmission delay jitter, i.e.,
   either reserve separate buffers for transmission delay jitter
   buffering and de-interleaving buffering or use a receiver buffer for
   both transmission delay jitter and de-interleaving.  Moreover,
   receivers SHOULD take transmission delay jitter into account in the
   buffering operation, e.g., by additional initial buffering before
   starting of decoding and playback.

   This section is organized as follows: Sub<a href="#section-7.2.1">section 7.2.1</a> presents how
   to calculate the size of the de-interleaving buffer.  Sub<a href="#section-7.2.2">section</a>
   <a href="#section-7.2.2">7.2.2</a> specifies the receiver process on how to organize received NAL
   units to the NAL unit decoding order.

<span class="h4"><a class="selflink" id="section-7.2.1" href="#section-7.2.1">7.2.1</a>.  Size of the De-Interleaving Buffer</span>

   In either Offer/Answer or declarative Session Description Protocol
   (SDP) usage, the sprop-deint-buf-req media type parameter signals the
   requirement for the de-interleaving buffer size.  Therefore, it is
   RECOMMENDED to set the de-interleaving buffer size, in terms of
   number of bytes, equal to or greater than the value of the sprop-
   deint-buf-req media type parameter.

   When the SDP Offer/Answer model or any other capability exchange
   procedure is used in session setup, the properties of the received
   stream SHOULD be such that the receiver capabilities are not
   exceeded.  In the SDP Offer/Answer model, the receiver can indicate
   its capabilities to allocate a de-interleaving buffer with the deint-
   buf-cap media type parameter.  See <a href="#section-8.1">Section 8.1</a> for further
   information on the deint-buf-cap and sprop-deint-buf-req media type
   parameters and <a href="#section-8.2.2">Section 8.2.2</a> for further information on their use in
   the SDP Offer/Answer model.

<span class="h4"><a class="selflink" id="section-7.2.2" href="#section-7.2.2">7.2.2</a>.  De-Interleaving Process</span>

   There are two buffering states in the receiver: initial buffering and
   buffering while playing.  Initial buffering occurs when the RTP
   session is initialized.  After initial buffering, decoding and
   playback are started, and the buffering-while-playing mode is used.

   Regardless of the buffering state, the receiver stores incoming NAL
   units, in reception order, in the de-interleaving buffer as follows.
   NAL units of aggregation packets are stored in the de-interleaving
   buffer individually.  The value of DON is calculated and stored for
   each NAL unit.



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   The receiver operation is described below with the help of the
   following functions and constants:

   o  Function AbsDON is specified in <a href="#section-8.1">Section 8.1</a>.

   o  Function don_diff is specified in <a href="#section-5.5">Section 5.5</a>.

   o  Constant N is the value of the OPTIONAL sprop-interleaving-depth
      media type parameter (see <a href="#section-8.1">Section 8.1</a>) incremented by 1.

   Initial buffering lasts until one of the following conditions is
   fulfilled:

   o  There are N or more VCL NAL units in the de-interleaving buffer.

   o  If sprop-max-don-diff is present, don_diff(m,n) is greater than
      the value of sprop-max-don-diff, in which n corresponds to the NAL
      unit having the greatest value of AbsDON among the received NAL
      units and m corresponds to the NAL unit having the smallest value
      of AbsDON among the received NAL units.

   o  Initial buffering has lasted for the duration equal to or greater
      than the value of the OPTIONAL sprop-init-buf-time media type
      parameter.

   The NAL units to be removed from the de-interleaving buffer are
   determined as follows:

   o  If the de-interleaving buffer contains at least N VCL NAL units,
      NAL units are removed from the de-interleaving buffer and passed
      to the decoder in the order specified below until the buffer
      contains N-1 VCL NAL units.

   o  If sprop-max-don-diff is present, all NAL units m for which
      don_diff(m,n) is greater than sprop-max-don-diff are removed from
      the de-interleaving buffer and passed to the decoder in the order
      specified below.  Herein, n corresponds to the NAL unit having the
      greatest value of AbsDON among the NAL units in the de-
      interleaving buffer.












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   The order in which NAL units are passed to the decoder is specified
   as follows:

   o  Let PDON be a variable that is initialized to 0 at the beginning
      of the RTP session.

   o  For each NAL unit associated with a value of DON, a DON distance
      is calculated as follows.  If the value of DON of the NAL unit is
      larger than the value of PDON, the DON distance is equal to DON -
      PDON.  Otherwise, the DON distance is equal to 65535 - PDON + DON
      + 1.

   o  NAL units are delivered to the decoder in ascending order of DON
      distance.  If several NAL units share the same value of DON
      distance, they can be passed to the decoder in any order.

   o  When a desired number of NAL units have been passed to the
      decoder, the value of PDON is set to the value of DON for the last
      NAL unit passed to the decoder.

<span class="h3"><a class="selflink" id="section-7.3" href="#section-7.3">7.3</a>.  Additional De-Packetization Guidelines</span>

   The following additional de-packetization rules may be used to
   implement an operational H.264 de-packetizer:

   o  Intelligent RTP receivers (e.g., in gateways) may identify lost
      coded slice data partitions A (DPAs).  If a lost DPA is detected,
      after taking into account possible retransmission and FEC, a
      gateway may decide not to send the corresponding coded slice data
      partitions B and C, as their information is meaningless for H.264
      decoders.  In this way, a MANE can reduce network load by
      discarding useless packets without parsing a complex bitstream.

   o  Intelligent RTP receivers (e.g., in gateways) may identify lost
      FUs.  If a lost FU is found, a gateway may decide not to send the
      following FUs of the same fragmented NAL unit, as their
      information is meaningless for H.264 decoders.  In this way, a
      MANE can reduce network load by discarding useless packets without
      parsing a complex bitstream.

   o  Intelligent receivers having to discard packets or NALUs should
      first discard all packets/NALUs in which the value of the NRI
      field of the NAL unit type octet is equal to 0.  This will
      minimize the impact on user experience and keep the reference
      pictures intact.  If more packets have to be discarded, then






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      packets with a numerically lower NRI value should be discarded
      before packets with a numerically higher NRI value.  However,
      discarding any packets with an NRI bigger than 0 very likely leads
      to decoder drift and SHOULD be avoided.

<span class="h2"><a class="selflink" id="section-8" href="#section-8">8</a>.  Payload Format Parameters</span>

   This section specifies the parameters that MAY be used to select
   optional features of the payload format and certain features of the
   bitstream.  The parameters are specified here as part of the media
   subtype registration for the ITU-T H.264 | ISO/IEC 14496-10 codec.  A
   mapping of the parameters into the Session Description Protocol (SDP)
   [<a href="#ref-6" title="&quot;SDP: Session Description Protocol&quot;">6</a>] is also provided for applications that use SDP.  Equivalent
   parameters could be defined elsewhere for use with control protocols
   that do not use SDP.

   Some parameters provide a receiver with the properties of the stream
   that will be sent.  The names of all these parameters start with
   "sprop" for stream properties.  Some of these "sprop" parameters are
   limited by other payload or codec configuration parameters.  For
   example, the sprop-parameter-sets parameter is constrained by the
   profile-level-id parameter.

<span class="h3"><a class="selflink" id="section-8.1" href="#section-8.1">8.1</a>.  Media Type Registration</span>

   The media subtype for the ITU-T H.264 | ISO/IEC 14496-10 codec has
   been allocated from the IETF tree.

   Media Type name:     video

   Media subtype name:  H264

   Required parameters: none

   OPTIONAL parameters:

      profile-level-id:
         A base16 [<a href="#ref-7" title="&quot;The Base16, Base32, and Base64 Data Encodings&quot;">7</a>] (hexadecimal) representation of the following
         three bytes in the sequence parameter set NAL unit is specified
         in [<a href="#ref-1" title="&quot;Advanced video coding for generic audiovisual services&quot;">1</a>]: 1) profile_idc, 2) a byte herein referred to as
         profile-iop, composed of the values of constraint_set0_flag,
         constraint_set1_flag, constraint_set2_flag,
         constraint_set3_flag, constraint_set4_flag,
         constraint_set5_flag, and reserved_zero_2bits in bit-
         significance order, starting from the most-significant bit, and
         3) level_idc.  Note that reserved_zero_2bits is required to be
         equal to 0 in [<a href="#ref-1" title="&quot;Advanced video coding for generic audiovisual services&quot;">1</a>], but other values for it may be specified in
         the future by ITU-T or ISO/IEC.



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         The profile-level-id parameter indicates the default sub-
         profile (i.e., the subset of coding tools that may have been
         used to generate the stream or that the receiver supports) and
         the default level of the stream or the receiver supports.

         The default sub-profile is indicated collectively by the
         profile_idc byte and some fields in the profile-iop byte.
         Depending on the values of the fields in the profile-iop byte,
         the default sub-profile may be the set of coding tools
         supported by one profile, or a common subset of coding tools of
         multiple profiles, as specified in Section 7.4.2.1.1 of [<a href="#ref-1" title="&quot;Advanced video coding for generic audiovisual services&quot;">1</a>].
         The default level is indicated by the level_idc byte, and, when
         profile_idc is equal to 66, 77, or 88 (the Baseline, Main, or
         Extended profile) and level_idc is equal to 11, additionally by
         bit 4 (constraint_set3_flag) of the profile-iop byte.  When
         profile_idc is equal to 66, 77, or 88 (the Baseline, Main, or
         Extended profile), level_idc is equal to 11, and bit 4
         (constraint_set3_flag) of the profile-iop byte is equal to 1,
         the default level is Level 1b.

         Table 5 lists all profiles defined in Annex A of [<a href="#ref-1" title="&quot;Advanced video coding for generic audiovisual services&quot;">1</a>] and, for
         each of the profiles, the possible combinations of profile_idc
         and profile-iop that represent the same sub-profile.




























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            Table 5.  Combinations of profile_idc and profile-iop
            representing the same sub-profile corresponding to the full
            set of coding tools supported by one profile.  In the
            following, x may be either 0 or 1, while the profile names
            are indicated as follows.  CB: Constrained Baseline profile,
            B: Baseline profile, M: Main profile, E: Extended profile,
            H: High profile, H10: High 10 profile, H42: High 4:2:2
            profile, H44: High 4:4:4 Predictive profile, H10I: High 10
            Intra profile, H42I: High 4:2:2 Intra profile, H44I: High
            4:4:4 Intra profile, and C44I: CAVLC 4:4:4 Intra profile.

              Profile     profile_idc        profile-iop
                          (hexadecimal)      (binary)

              CB          42 (B)             x1xx0000
                 same as: 4D (M)             1xxx0000
                 same as: 58 (E)             11xx0000
              B           42 (B)             x0xx0000
                 same as: 58 (E)             10xx0000
              M           4D (M)             0x0x0000
              E           58                 00xx0000
              H           64                 00000000
              H10         6E                 00000000
              H42         7A                 00000000
              H44         F4                 00000000
              H10I        6E                 00010000
              H42I        7A                 00010000
              H44I        F4                 00010000
              C44I        2C                 00010000

         For example, in the table above, profile_idc equal to 58
         (Extended) with profile-iop equal to 11xx0000 indicates the
         same sub-profile corresponding to profile_idc equal to 42
         (Baseline) with profile-iop equal to x1xx0000.  Note that other
         combinations of profile_idc and profile-iop (not listed in
         Table 5) may represent a sub-profile equivalent to the common
         subset of coding tools for more than one profile.  Note also
         that a decoder conforming to a certain profile may be able to
         decode bitstreams conforming to other profiles.

         If the profile-level-id parameter is used to indicate
         properties of a NAL unit stream, it indicates that, to decode
         the stream, the minimum subset of coding tools a decoder has to
         support is the default sub-profile, and the lowest level the
         decoder has to support is the default level.






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         If the profile-level-id parameter is used for capability
         exchange or session setup, it indicates the subset of coding
         tools, which is equal to the default sub-profile, that the
         codec supports for both receiving and sending.  If max-recv-
         level is not present, the default level from profile-level-id
         indicates the highest level the codec wishes to support.  If
         max-recv-level is present, it indicates the highest level the
         codec supports for receiving.  For either receiving or sending,
         all levels that are lower than the highest level supported MUST
         also be supported.

            Informative note: Capability exchange and session setup
            procedures should provide means to list the capabilities for
            each supported sub-profile separately.  For example, the
            one-of-N codec selection procedure of the SDP Offer/Answer
            model can be used (Section 10.2 of [<a href="#ref-8" title="&quot;An Offer/Answer Model with Session Description Protocol (SDP)&quot;">8</a>]).  The one-of-N codec
            selection procedure may also be used to provide different
            combinations of profile_idc and profile-iop that represent
            the same sub-profile.  When there are many different
            combinations of profile_idc and profile-iop that represent
            the same sub-profile, using the one-of-N codec selection
            procedure may result in a fairly large SDP message.
            Therefore, a receiver should understand the different
            equivalent combinations of profile_idc and profile-iop that
            represent the same sub-profile and be ready to accept an
            offer using any of the equivalent combinations.

         If no profile-level-id is present, the Baseline profile,
         without additional constraints at Level 1, MUST be inferred.

      max-recv-level:
         This parameter MAY be used to indicate the highest level a
         receiver supports when the highest level is higher than the
         default level (the level indicated by profile-level-id).  The
         value of max-recv-level is a base16 (hexadecimal)
         representation of the two bytes after the syntax element
         profile_idc in the sequence parameter set NAL unit specified in
         [<a href="#ref-1" title="&quot;Advanced video coding for generic audiovisual services&quot;">1</a>]: profile-iop (as defined above) and level_idc.  If the
         level_idc byte of max-recv-level is equal to 11 and bit 4 of
         the profile-iop byte of max-recv-level is equal to 1 or if the
         level_idc byte of max-recv-level is equal to 9 and bit 4 of the
         profile-iop byte of max-recv-level is equal to 0, the highest
         level the receiver supports is Level 1b.  Otherwise, the
         highest level the receiver supports is equal to the level_idc
         byte of max-recv-level divided by 10.

         max-recv-level MUST NOT be present if the highest level the
         receiver supports is not higher than the default level.



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      max-mbps, max-smbps, max-fs, max-cpb, max-dpb, and max-br:
         These parameters MAY be used to signal the capabilities of a
         receiver implementation.  These parameters MUST NOT be used for
         any other purpose.  The highest level conveyed in the value of
         the profile-level-id parameter or the max-recv-level parameter
         MUST be such that the receiver is fully capable of supporting.
         max-mbps, max-smbps, max-fs, max-cpb, max-dpb, and max-br MAY
         be used to indicate capabilities of the receiver that extend
         the required capabilities of the signaled highest level, as
         specified below.

         When more than one parameter from the set (max-mbps, max-smbps,
         max-fs, max-cpb, max-dpb, max-br) is present, the receiver MUST
         support all signaled capabilities simultaneously.  For example,
         if both max-mbps and max-br are present, the signaled highest
         level with the extension of both the frame rate and bitrate is
         supported.  That is, the receiver is able to decode NAL unit
         streams in which the macroblock processing rate is up to max-
         mbps (inclusive), the bitrate is up to max-br (inclusive), the
         coded picture buffer size is derived as specified in the
         semantics of the max-br parameter below, and the other
         properties comply with the highest level specified in the value
         of the profile-level-id parameter or the max-recv-level
         parameter.

         If a receiver can support all the properties of Level A, the
         highest level specified in the value of the profile-level-id
         parameter or the max-recv-level parameter MUST be Level A
         (i.e., MUST NOT be lower than Level A).  In other words, a
         receiver MUST NOT signal values of max-mbps, max-fs, max-cpb,
         max-dpb, and max-br that taken together meet the requirements
         of a higher level compared to the highest level specified in
         the value of the profile-level-id parameter or the max-recv-
         level parameter.

            Informative note: When the OPTIONAL media type parameters
            are used to signal the properties of a NAL unit stream, max-
            mbps, max-smbps, max-fs, max-cpb, max-dpb, and max-br are
            not present, and the value of profile-level-id must always
            be such that the NAL unit stream complies fully with the
            specified profile and level.

      max-mbps: The value of max-mbps is an integer indicating the
         maximum macroblock processing rate in units of macroblocks per
         second.  The max-mbps parameter signals that the receiver is
         capable of decoding video at a higher rate than is required by
         the signaled highest level conveyed in the value of the
         profile-level-id parameter or the max-recv-level parameter.



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         When max-mbps is signaled, the receiver MUST be able to decode
         NAL unit streams that conform to the signaled highest level,
         with the exception that the MaxMBPS value in Table A-1 of [<a href="#ref-1" title="&quot;Advanced video coding for generic audiovisual services&quot;">1</a>]
         for the signaled highest level is replaced with the value of
         max-mbps.  The value of max-mbps MUST be greater than or equal
         to the value of MaxMBPS given in Table A-1 of [<a href="#ref-1" title="&quot;Advanced video coding for generic audiovisual services&quot;">1</a>] for the
         highest level.  Senders MAY use this knowledge to send pictures
         of a given size at a higher picture rate than is indicated in
         the signaled highest level.

      max-smbps: The value of max-smbps is an integer indicating the
         maximum static macroblock processing rate in units of static
         macroblocks per second, under the hypothetical assumption that
         all macroblocks are static macroblocks.  When max-smbps is
         signaled, the MaxMBPS value in Table A-1 of [<a href="#ref-1" title="&quot;Advanced video coding for generic audiovisual services&quot;">1</a>] should be
         replaced with the result of the following computation:

         o  If the parameter max-mbps is signaled, set a variable
            MaxMacroblocksPerSecond to the value of max-mbps.
            Otherwise, set MaxMacroblocksPerSecond equal to the value of
            MaxMBPS in Table A-1 [<a href="#ref-1" title="&quot;Advanced video coding for generic audiovisual services&quot;">1</a>] for the signaled highest level
            conveyed in the value of the profile-level-id parameter or
            the max-recv-level parameter.

         o  Set a variable P_non-static to the proportion of non-static
            macroblocks in picture n.

         o  Set a variable P_static to the proportion of static
            macroblocks in picture n.

         o  The value of MaxMBPS in Table A-1 of [<a href="#ref-1" title="&quot;Advanced video coding for generic audiovisual services&quot;">1</a>] should be
            considered by the encoder to be equal to:

            MaxMacroblocksPerSecond * max-smbps / (P_non-static *
            max-smbps + P_static * MaxMacroblocksPerSecond)

         The encoder should recompute this value for each picture.  The
         value of max-smbps MUST be greater than or equal to the value
         of MaxMBPS given explicitly as the value of the max-mbps
         parameter or implicitly in Table A-1 of [<a href="#ref-1" title="&quot;Advanced video coding for generic audiovisual services&quot;">1</a>] for the signaled
         highest level.  Senders MAY use this knowledge to send pictures
         of a given size at a higher picture rate than is indicated in
         the signaled highest level.

      max-fs: The value of max-fs is an integer indicating the maximum
         frame size in units of macroblocks.  The max-fs parameter
         signals that the receiver is capable of decoding larger picture
         sizes than are required by the signaled highest level conveyed



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         in the value of the profile-level-id parameter or the max-recv-
         level parameter.  When max-fs is signaled, the receiver MUST be
         able to decode NAL unit streams that conform to the signaled
         highest level, with the exception that the MaxFS value in Table
         A-1 of [<a href="#ref-1" title="&quot;Advanced video coding for generic audiovisual services&quot;">1</a>] for the signaled highest level is replaced with the
         value of max-fs.  The value of max-fs MUST be greater than or
         equal to the value of MaxFS given in Table A-1 of [<a href="#ref-1" title="&quot;Advanced video coding for generic audiovisual services&quot;">1</a>] for the
         highest level.  Senders MAY use this knowledge to send larger
         pictures at a proportionally lower frame rate than is indicated
         in the signaled highest level.

      max-cpb: The value of max-cpb is an integer indicating the maximum
         coded picture buffer size in units of 1000 bits for the VCL HRD
         parameters and in units of 1200 bits for the NAL HRD
         parameters.  Note that this parameter does not use units of
         cpbBrVclFactor and cpbBrNALFactor (see Table A-1 of [<a href="#ref-1" title="&quot;Advanced video coding for generic audiovisual services&quot;">1</a>]).  The
         max-cpb parameter signals that the receiver has more memory
         than the minimum amount of coded picture buffer memory required
         by the signaled highest level conveyed in the value of the
         profile-level-id parameter or the max-recv-level parameter.
         When max-cpb is signaled, the receiver MUST be able to decode
         NAL unit streams that conform to the signaled highest level,
         with the exception that the MaxCPB value in Table A-1 of [<a href="#ref-1" title="&quot;Advanced video coding for generic audiovisual services&quot;">1</a>]
         for the signaled highest level is replaced with the value of
         max-cpb (after taking cpbBrVclFactor and cpbBrNALFactor into
         consideration when needed).  The value of max-cpb (after taking
         cpbBrVclFactor and cpbBrNALFactor into consideration when
         needed) MUST be greater than or equal to the value of MaxCPB
         given in Table A-1 of [<a href="#ref-1" title="&quot;Advanced video coding for generic audiovisual services&quot;">1</a>] for the highest level.  Senders MAY
         use this knowledge to construct coded video streams with
         greater variation of bitrate than can be achieved with the
         MaxCPB value in Table A-1 of [<a href="#ref-1" title="&quot;Advanced video coding for generic audiovisual services&quot;">1</a>].

            Informative note: The coded picture buffer is used in the
            hypothetical reference decoder (Annex C of H.264).  The use
            of the hypothetical reference decoder is recommended in
            H.264 encoders to verify that the produced bitstream
            conforms to the standard and to control the output bitrate.
            Thus, the coded picture buffer is conceptually independent
            of any other potential buffers in the receiver, including
            de-interleaving and de-jitter buffers.  The coded picture
            buffer need not be implemented in decoders as specified in
            Annex C of H.264, but rather standard-compliant decoders can
            have any buffering arrangements provided that they can
            decode standard-compliant bitstreams.  Thus, in practice,
            the input buffer for a video decoder can be integrated with
            de-interleaving and de-jitter buffers of the receiver.




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      max-dpb: The value of max-dpb is an integer indicating the maximum
         decoded picture buffer size in units of 8/3 macroblocks.  The
         max-dpb parameter signals that the receiver has more memory
         than the minimum amount of decoded picture buffer memory
         required by the signaled highest level conveyed in the value of
         the profile-level-id parameter or the max-recv-level parameter.
         When max-dpb is signaled, the receiver MUST be able to decode
         NAL unit streams that conform to the signaled highest level,
         with the exception that the MaxDpbMbs value in Table A-1 of [<a href="#ref-1" title="&quot;Advanced video coding for generic audiovisual services&quot;">1</a>]
         for the signaled highest level is replaced with the value of
         max-dpb * 3 / 8.  Consequently, a receiver that signals max-dpb
         MUST be capable of storing the following number of decoded
         frames, complementary field pairs, and non-paired fields in its
         decoded picture buffer:

            Min(max-dpb * 3 / 8 / ( PicWidthInMbs * FrameHeightInMbs),
            16)

         Wherein PicWidthInMbs and FrameHeightInMbs are defined in [<a href="#ref-1" title="&quot;Advanced video coding for generic audiovisual services&quot;">1</a>].

         The value of max-dpb MUST be greater than or equal to the value
         of MaxDpbMbs * 3 / 8, wherein the value of MaxDpbMbs is given
         in Table A-1 of [<a href="#ref-1" title="&quot;Advanced video coding for generic audiovisual services&quot;">1</a>] for the highest level.  Senders MAY use
         this knowledge to construct coded video streams with improved
         compression.

            Informative note: This parameter was added primarily to
            complement a similar codepoint in the ITU-T Recommendation
            H.245, so as to facilitate signaling gateway designs.  The
            decoded picture buffer stores reconstructed samples.  There
            is no relationship between the size of the decoded picture
            buffer and the buffers used in RTP, especially
            de-interleaving and de-jitter buffers.

            Informative note: In <a href="./rfc3984">RFC 3984</a>, which this document
            obsoletes, the unit of this parameter was 1024 bytes.  The
            unit has been changed to 8/3 macroblocks in this document.
            The reason for this change was due to the changes from the
            2003 version of the H.264 specification referenced by <a href="./rfc3984">RFC</a>
            <a href="./rfc3984">3984</a> to the 2010 version of the H.264 specification
            referenced by this document, particularly the changes to
            Table A-1 in the H.264 specification due to addition of
            color formats and bit depths not supported earlier.  The
            changed semantics of this parameter keeps backward
            compatibility to <a href="./rfc3984">RFC 3984</a> and supports all profiles defined
            in the 2010 version of the H.264 specification.





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      max-br: The value of max-br is an integer indicating the maximum
         video bitrate in units of 1000 bits per second for the VCL HRD
         parameters and in units of 1200 bits per second for the NAL HRD
         parameters.  Note that this parameter does not use units of
         cpbBrVclFactor and cpbBrNALFactor (see Table A-1 of [<a href="#ref-1" title="&quot;Advanced video coding for generic audiovisual services&quot;">1</a>]).

         The max-br parameter signals that the video decoder of the
         receiver is capable of decoding video at a higher bitrate than
         is required by the signaled highest level conveyed in the value
         of the profile-level-id parameter or the max-recv-level
         parameter.

         When max-br is signaled, the video codec of the receiver MUST
         be able to decode NAL unit streams that conform to the signaled
         highest level, with the following exceptions in the limits
         specified by the highest level:

         o  The value of max-br (after taking cpbBrVclFactor and
            cpbBrNALFactor into consideration when needed) replaces the
            MaxBR value in Table A-1 of [<a href="#ref-1" title="&quot;Advanced video coding for generic audiovisual services&quot;">1</a>] for the highest level.

         o  When the max-cpb parameter is not present, the result of the
            following formula replaces the value of MaxCPB in Table A-1
            of [<a href="#ref-1" title="&quot;Advanced video coding for generic audiovisual services&quot;">1</a>]: (MaxCPB of the signaled level) * max-br / (MaxBR of
            the signaled highest level).

         For example, if a receiver signals capability for Main profile
         Level 1.2 with max-br equal to 1550, this indicates a maximum
         video bitrate of 1550 kbits/sec for VCL HRD parameters, a
         maximum video bitrate of 1860 kbits/sec for NAL HRD parameters,
         and a CPB size of 4036458 bits (1550000 / 384000 * 1000 *
         1000).

         The value of max-br (after taking cpbBrVclFactor and
         cpbBrNALFactor into consideration when needed) MUST be greater
         than or equal to the value MaxBR given in Table A-1 of [<a href="#ref-1" title="&quot;Advanced video coding for generic audiovisual services&quot;">1</a>] for
         the signaled highest level.

         Senders MAY use this knowledge to send higher bitrate video as
         allowed in the level definition of Annex A of H.264 to achieve
         improved video quality.

            Informative note: This parameter was added primarily to
            complement a similar codepoint in the ITU-T Recommendation
            H.245, so as to facilitate signaling gateway designs.  The
            assumption that the network is capable of handling such
            bitrates at any given time cannot be made from the value of




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            this parameter.  In particular, no conclusion can be drawn
            that the signaled bitrate is possible under congestion
            control constraints.

      redundant-pic-cap:
         This parameter signals the capabilities of a receiver
         implementation.  When equal to 0, the parameter indicates that
         the receiver makes no attempt to use redundant coded pictures
         to correct incorrectly decoded primary coded pictures.  When
         equal to 0, the receiver is not capable of using redundant
         slices; therefore, a sender SHOULD avoid sending redundant
         slices to save bandwidth.  When equal to 1, the receiver is
         capable of decoding any such redundant slice that covers a
         corrupted area in a primary decoded picture (at least partly),
         and therefore a sender MAY send redundant slices.  When the
         parameter is not present, a value of 0 MUST be used for
         redundant-pic-cap.  When present, the value of redundant-pic-
         cap MUST be either 0 or 1.

         When the profile-level-id parameter is present in the same
         signaling as the redundant-pic-cap parameter and the profile
         indicated in profile-level-id is such that it disallows the use
         of redundant coded pictures (e.g., Main profile), the value of
         redundant-pic-cap MUST be equal to 0.  When a receiver
         indicates redundant-pic-cap equal to 0, the received stream
         SHOULD NOT contain redundant coded pictures.

            Informative note: Even if redundant-pic-cap is equal to 0,
            the decoder is able to ignore redundant codec pictures
            provided that the decoder supports a profile (Baseline,
            Extended) in which redundant coded pictures are allowed.

            Informative note: Even if redundant-pic-cap is equal to 1,
            the receiver may also choose other error concealment
            strategies to replace or complement decoding of redundant
            slices.

      sprop-parameter-sets:
         This parameter MAY be used to convey any sequence and picture
         parameter set NAL units (herein referred to as the initial
         parameter set NAL units) that can be placed in the NAL unit
         stream to precede any other NAL units in decoding order.  The
         parameter MUST NOT be used to indicate codec capability in any
         capability exchange procedure.  The value of the parameter is a
         comma-separated (',') list of base64 [<a href="#ref-7" title="&quot;The Base16, Base32, and Base64 Data Encodings&quot;">7</a>] representations of
         parameter set NAL units as specified in Sections <a href="#section-7.3.2.1">7.3.2.1</a> and





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         7.3.2.2 of [<a href="#ref-1" title="&quot;Advanced video coding for generic audiovisual services&quot;">1</a>].  Note that the number of bytes in a parameter
         set NAL unit is typically less than 10, but a picture parameter
         set NAL unit can contain several hundred bytes.

            Informative note: When several payload types are offered in
            the SDP Offer/Answer model, each with its own sprop-
            parameter-sets parameter, the receiver cannot assume that
            those parameter sets do not use conflicting storage
            locations (i.e., identical values of parameter set
            identifiers).  Therefore, a receiver should buffer all
            sprop-parameter-sets and make them available to the decoder
            instance that decodes a certain payload type.

         The sprop-parameter-sets parameter MUST only contain parameter
         sets that are conforming to the profile-level-id, i.e., the
         subset of coding tools indicated by any of the parameter sets
         MUST be equal to the default sub-profile, and the level
         indicated by any of the parameter sets MUST be equal to the
         default level.

      sprop-level-parameter-sets:
         This parameter MAY be used to convey any sequence and picture
         parameter set NAL units (herein referred to as the initial
         parameter set NAL units) that can be placed in the NAL unit
         stream to precede any other NAL units in decoding order and
         that are associated with one or more levels different than the
         default level.  The parameter MUST NOT be used to indicate
         codec capability in any capability exchange procedure.

         The sprop-level-parameter-sets parameter contains parameter
         sets for one or more levels that are different than the default
         level.  All parameter sets associated with one level are
         clustered and prefixed with a three-byte field that has the
         same syntax as profile-level-id.  This enables the receiver to
         install the parameter sets for one level and discard the rest.
         The three-byte field is named PLId, and all parameter sets
         associated with one level are named PSL, which has the same
         syntax as sprop-parameter-sets.  Parameter sets for each level
         are represented in the form of PLId:PSL, i.e., PLId followed by
         a colon (':') and the base64 [<a href="#ref-7" title="&quot;The Base16, Base32, and Base64 Data Encodings&quot;">7</a>] representation of the initial
         parameter set NAL units for the level.  Each pair of PLId:PSLs
         is also separated by a colon.  Note that a PSL can contain
         multiple parameter sets for that level, separated with commas
         (',').

         The subset of coding tools indicated by each PLId field MUST be
         equal to the default sub-profile, and the level indicated by
         each PLId field MUST be different than the default level.  All



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         sequence parameter sets contained in each PSL MUST have the
         three bytes from profile_idc to level_idc, inclusive, equal to
         the preceding PLId.

            Informative note: This parameter allows for efficient level
            downgrade or upgrade in SDP Offer/Answer and out-of-band
            transport of parameter sets simultaneously.

      use-level-src-parameter-sets:
         This parameter MAY be used to indicate a receiver capability.
         The value MAY be equal to either 0 or 1.  When the parameter is
         not present, the value MUST be inferred to be equal to 0.  The
         value 0 indicates that the receiver does not understand the
         sprop-level-parameter-sets parameter, does not understand the
         "fmtp" source attribute as specified in Section 6.3 of [<a href="#ref-9" title="&quot;Source-Specific Media Attributes in the Session Description Protocol (SDP)&quot;">9</a>],
         will ignore sprop-level-parameter-sets when present, and will
         ignore sprop-parameter-sets when conveyed using the "fmtp"
         source attribute.  The value 1 indicates that the receiver
         understands the sprop-level-parameter-sets parameter,
         understands the "fmtp" source attribute as specified in <a href="#section-6.3">Section</a>
         <a href="#section-6.3">6.3</a> of [<a href="#ref-9" title="&quot;Source-Specific Media Attributes in the Session Description Protocol (SDP)&quot;">9</a>], and is capable of using parameter sets contained in
         the sprop-level-parameter-sets or contained in the sprop-
         parameter-sets that is conveyed using the "fmtp" source
         attribute.

            Informative note: An <a href="./rfc3984">RFC 3984</a> receiver does not understand
            sprop-level-parameter-sets, use-level-src-parameter-sets, or
            the "fmtp" source attribute as specified in Section 6.3 of
            [<a href="#ref-9" title="&quot;Source-Specific Media Attributes in the Session Description Protocol (SDP)&quot;">9</a>].  Therefore, during SDP Offer/Answer, an <a href="./rfc3984">RFC 3984</a>
            receiver as the answerer will simply ignore sprop-level-
            parameter-sets when present in an offer and sprop-parameter-
            sets conveyed using the "fmtp" source attribute, as
            specified in Section 6.3 of [<a href="#ref-9" title="&quot;Source-Specific Media Attributes in the Session Description Protocol (SDP)&quot;">9</a>].  Assume that the offered
            payload type was accepted at a level lower than the default
            level.  If the offered payload type included sprop-level-
            parameter-sets or included sprop-parameter-sets conveyed
            using the "fmtp" source attribute and if the offerer sees
            that the answerer has not included use-level-src-parameter-
            sets equal to 1 in the answer, the offerer knows that
            in-band transport of parameter sets is needed.

      in-band-parameter-sets:
         This parameter MAY be used to indicate a receiver capability.
         The value MAY be equal to either 0 or 1.  The value 1 indicates
         that the receiver discards out-of-band parameter sets in sprop-
         parameter-sets and sprop-level-parameter-sets; therefore, the
         sender MUST transmit all parameter sets in-band.  The value 0
         indicates that the receiver utilizes out-of-band parameter sets



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         included in sprop-parameter-sets and/or sprop-level-parameter-
         sets.  However, in this case, the sender MAY still choose to
         send parameter sets in-band.  When in-band-parameter-sets is
         equal to 1, use-level-src-parameter-sets MUST NOT be present or
         MUST be equal to 0.  When the parameter is not present, this
         receiver capability is not specified, and therefore the sender
         MAY send out-of-band parameter sets only, it MAY send in-band-
         parameter-sets only, or it MAY send both.

      level-asymmetry-allowed:
         This parameter MAY be used in SDP Offer/Answer to indicate
         whether level asymmetry, i.e., sending media encoded at a
         different level in the offerer-to-answerer direction than the
         level in the answerer-to-offerer direction, is allowed.  The
         value MAY be equal to either 0 or 1.  When the parameter is not
         present, the value MUST be inferred to be equal to 0.  The
         value 1 in both the offer and the answer indicates that level
         asymmetry is allowed.  The value of 0 in either the offer or
         the answer indicates that level asymmetry is not allowed.

         If level-asymmetry-allowed is equal to 0 (or not present) in
         either the offer or the answer, level asymmetry is not allowed.
         In this case, the level to use in the direction from the
         offerer to the answerer MUST be the same as the level to use in
         the opposite direction.

      packetization-mode:
         This parameter signals the properties of an RTP payload type or
         the capabilities of a receiver implementation.  Only a single
         configuration point can be indicated; thus, when capabilities
         to support more than one packetization-mode are declared,
         multiple configuration points (RTP payload types) must be used.

         When the value of packetization-mode is equal to 0 or
         packetization-mode is not present, the single NAL mode MUST be
         used.  This mode is in use in standards using ITU-T
         Recommendation H.241 [<a href="#ref-3" title="&quot;Extended video procedures and control signals for H.300-series terminals&quot;">3</a>] (see <a href="#section-12.1">Section 12.1</a>).  When the value of
         packetization-mode is equal to 1, the non-interleaved mode MUST
         be used.  When the value of packetization-mode is equal to 2,
         the interleaved mode MUST be used.  The value of packetization-
         mode MUST be an integer in the range of 0 to 2, inclusive.

      sprop-interleaving-depth:
         This parameter MUST NOT be present when packetization-mode is
         not present or the value of packetization-mode is equal to 0 or
         1.  This parameter MUST be present when the value of
         packetization-mode is equal to 2.




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         This parameter signals the properties of an RTP packet stream.
         It specifies the maximum number of VCL NAL units that precede
         any VCL NAL unit in the RTP packet stream in transmission order
         and that follow the VCL NAL unit in decoding order.
         Consequently, it is guaranteed that receivers can reconstruct
         NAL unit decoding order when the buffer size for NAL unit
         decoding order recovery is at least the value of sprop-
         interleaving-depth + 1 in terms of VCL NAL units.

         The value of sprop-interleaving-depth MUST be an integer in the
         range of 0 to 32767, inclusive.

      sprop-deint-buf-req:
         This parameter MUST NOT be present when packetization-mode is
         not present or the value of packetization-mode is equal to 0 or
         1.  It MUST be present when the value of packetization-mode is
         equal to 2.

         sprop-deint-buf-req signals the required size of the
         de-interleaving buffer for the RTP packet stream.  The value of
         the parameter MUST be greater than or equal to the maximum
         buffer occupancy (in units of bytes) required in such a
         de-interleaving buffer that is specified in <a href="#section-7.2">Section 7.2</a>.  It is
         guaranteed that receivers can perform the de-interleaving of
         interleaved NAL units into NAL unit decoding order, when the
         de-interleaving buffer size is at least the value of sprop-
         deint-buf-req in terms of bytes.

         The value of sprop-deint-buf-req MUST be an integer in the
         range of 0 to 4294967295, inclusive.

            Informative note: sprop-deint-buf-req indicates the required
            size of the de-interleaving buffer only.  When network
            jitter can occur, an appropriately sized jitter buffer has
            to be provisioned for as well.

      deint-buf-cap:
         This parameter signals the capabilities of a receiver
         implementation and indicates the amount of de-interleaving
         buffer space in units of bytes that the receiver has available
         for reconstructing the NAL unit decoding order.  A receiver is
         able to handle any stream for which the value of the sprop-
         deint-buf-req parameter is smaller than or equal to this
         parameter.

         If the parameter is not present, then a value of 0 MUST be used
         for deint-buf-cap.  The value of deint-buf-cap MUST be an
         integer in the range of 0 to 4294967295, inclusive.



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            Informative note: deint-buf-cap indicates the maximum
            possible size of the de-interleaving buffer of the receiver
            only.  When network jitter can occur, an appropriately sized
            jitter buffer has to be provisioned for as well.

      sprop-init-buf-time:
         This parameter MAY be used to signal the properties of an RTP
         packet stream.  The parameter MUST NOT be present if the value
         of packetization-mode is equal to 0 or 1.

         The parameter signals the initial buffering time that a
         receiver MUST wait before starting decoding to recover the NAL
         unit decoding order from the transmission order.  The parameter
         is the maximum value of (decoding time of the NAL unit -
         transmission time of a NAL unit), assuming reliable and
         instantaneous transmission, the same timeline for transmission
         and decoding, and commencement of decoding when the first
         packet arrives.

         An example of specifying the value of sprop-init-buf-time
         follows.  A NAL unit stream is sent in the following
         interleaved order, in which the value corresponds to the
         decoding time and the transmission order is from left to right:

               0  2  1  3  5  4  6  8  7 ...

         Assuming a steady transmission rate of NAL units, the
         transmission times are:

               0  1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8 ...

         Subtracting the decoding time from the transmission time
         column-wise results in the following series:

               0 -1  1  0 -1  1  0 -1  1 ...

         Thus, in terms of intervals of NAL unit transmission times, the
         value of sprop-init-buf-time in this example is 1.  The
         parameter is coded as a non-negative base10 integer
         representation in clock ticks of a 90-kHz clock.  If the
         parameter is not present, then no initial buffering time value
         is defined.  Otherwise, the value of sprop-init-buf-time MUST
         be an integer in the range of 0 to 4294967295, inclusive.








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         In addition to the signaled sprop-init-buf-time, receivers
         SHOULD take into account the transmission delay jitter
         buffering, including buffering for the delay jitter caused by
         mixers, translators, gateways, proxies, traffic-shapers, and
         other network elements.

      sprop-max-don-diff:
         This parameter MAY be used to signal the properties of an RTP
         packet stream.  It MUST NOT be used to signal transmitter,
         receiver, or codec capabilities.  The parameter MUST NOT be
         present if the value of packetization-mode is equal to 0 or 1.
         sprop-max-don-diff is an integer in the range of 0 to 32767,
         inclusive.  If sprop-max-don-diff is not present, the value of
         the parameter is unspecified.  sprop-max-don-diff is calculated
         as follows:

            sprop-max-don-diff = max{AbsDON(i) - AbsDON(j)},
            for any i and any j&gt;i,

         where i and j indicate the index of the NAL unit in the
         transmission order and AbsDON denotes a decoding order number
         of the NAL unit that does not wrap around to 0 after 65535.  In
         other words, AbsDON is calculated as follows: let m and n be
         consecutive NAL units in transmission order.  For the very
         first NAL unit in transmission order (whose index is 0),
         AbsDON(0) = DON(0).  For other NAL units, AbsDON is calculated
         as follows:

            If DON(m) == DON(n), AbsDON(n) = AbsDON(m)

            If (DON(m) &lt; DON(n) and DON(n) - DON(m) &lt; 32768),
              AbsDON(n) = AbsDON(m) + DON(n) - DON(m)

            If (DON(m) &gt; DON(n) and DON(m) - DON(n) &gt;= 32768),
              AbsDON(n) = AbsDON(m) + 65536 - DON(m) + DON(n)

            If (DON(m) &lt; DON(n) and DON(n) - DON(m) &gt;= 32768),
              AbsDON(n) = AbsDON(m) - (DON(m) + 65536 - DON(n))

            If (DON(m) &gt; DON(n) and DON(m) - DON(n) &lt; 32768),
              AbsDON(n) = AbsDON(m) - (DON(m) - DON(n))

         where DON(i) is the decoding order number of the NAL unit
         having index i in the transmission order.  The decoding order
         number is specified in <a href="#section-5.5">Section 5.5</a>.






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            Informative note: Receivers may use sprop-max-don-diff to
            trigger which NAL units in the receiver buffer can be passed
            to the decoder.

      max-rcmd-nalu-size:
         This parameter MAY be used to signal the capabilities of a
         receiver.  The parameter MUST NOT be used for any other
         purposes.  The value of the parameter indicates the largest
         NALU size in bytes that the receiver can handle efficiently.
         The parameter value is a recommendation, not a strict upper
         boundary.  The sender MAY create larger NALUs but must be aware
         that the handling of these may come at a higher cost than NALUs
         conforming to the limitation.

         The value of max-rcmd-nalu-size MUST be an integer in the range
         of 0 to 4294967295, inclusive.  If this parameter is not
         specified, no known limitation to the NALU size exists.
         Senders still have to consider the MTU size available between
         the sender and the receiver and SHOULD run MTU discovery for
         this purpose.

         This parameter is motivated by, for example, an IP to H.223
         video telephony gateway, where NALUs smaller than the H.223
         transport data unit will be more efficient.  A gateway may
         terminate IP; thus, MTU discovery will normally not work beyond
         the gateway.

            Informative note: Setting this parameter to a lower than
            necessary value may have a negative impact.

      sar-understood:
         This parameter MAY be used to indicate a receiver capability
         and nothing else.  The parameter indicates the maximum value of
         aspect_ratio_idc (specified in [<a href="#ref-1" title="&quot;Advanced video coding for generic audiovisual services&quot;">1</a>]) smaller than 255 that the
         receiver understands.  Table E-1 of [<a href="#ref-1" title="&quot;Advanced video coding for generic audiovisual services&quot;">1</a>] specifies
         aspect_ratio_idc equal to 0 as "unspecified"; 1 to 16,
         inclusive, as specific Sample Aspect Ratios (SARs); 17 to 254,
         inclusive, as "reserved"; and 255 as the Extended SAR, for
         which SAR width and SAR height are explicitly signaled.
         Therefore, a receiver with a decoder according to [<a href="#ref-1" title="&quot;Advanced video coding for generic audiovisual services&quot;">1</a>]
         understands aspect_ratio_idc in the range of 1 to 16,
         inclusive, and aspect_ratio_idc equal to 255, in the sense that
         the receiver knows exactly what the SAR is.  For such a
         receiver, the value of sar-understood is 16.  In the future, if
         Table E-1 of [<a href="#ref-1" title="&quot;Advanced video coding for generic audiovisual services&quot;">1</a>] is extended, e.g., such that the SAR for
         aspect_ratio_idc equal to 17 is specified, then for a receiver
         with a decoder that understands the extension, the value of




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         sar-understood is 17.  For a receiver with a decoder according
         to the 2003 version of [<a href="#ref-1" title="&quot;Advanced video coding for generic audiovisual services&quot;">1</a>], the value of sar-understood is 13,
         as the minimum reserved aspect_ratio_idc therein is 14.

         When sar-understood is not present, the value MUST be inferred
         to be equal to 13.

      sar-supported:
         This parameter MAY be used to indicate a receiver capability
         and nothing else.  The value of this parameter is an integer in
         the range of 1 to sar-understood, inclusive, equal to 255.  The
         value of sar-supported equal to N smaller than 255 indicates
         that the receiver supports all the SARs corresponding to H.264
         aspect_ratio_idc values (see Table E-1 of [<a href="#ref-1" title="&quot;Advanced video coding for generic audiovisual services&quot;">1</a>]) in the range
         from 1 to N, inclusive, without geometric distortion.  The
         value of sar-supported equal to 255 indicates that the receiver
         supports all sample aspect ratios that are expressible using
         two 16-bit integer values as the numerator and denominator,
         i.e., those that are expressible using the H.264
         aspect_ratio_idc value of 255 (Extended_SAR, see Table E-1 of
         [<a href="#ref-1" title="&quot;Advanced video coding for generic audiovisual services&quot;">1</a>]), without geometric distortion.

         H.264-compliant encoders SHOULD NOT send an aspect_ratio_idc
         equal to 0 or an aspect_ratio_idc larger than sar-understood
         and smaller than 255.  H.264-compliant encoders SHOULD send an
         aspect_ratio_idc that the receiver is able to display without
         geometrical distortion.  However, H.264-compliant encoders MAY
         choose to send pictures using any SAR.

         Note that the actual sample aspect ratio or extended sample
         aspect ratio, when present, of the stream is conveyed in the
         Video Usability Information (VUI) part of the sequence
         parameter set.

      Encoding considerations:
         This type is only defined for transfer via RTP (<a href="./rfc3550">RFC 3550</a>).

      Security considerations:
         See <a href="./rfc6184#section-9">Section&nbsp;9 of RFC 6184</a>.

      Public specification:
         Please refer to <a href="./rfc6184">RFC 6184</a> and its <a href="#section-17">Section 17</a>.

      Additional information:
         None

      File extensions:  none




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      Macintosh file type code:  none

      Object identifier or OID:  none

      Person &amp; email address to contact for further information:
         Ye-Kui Wang, yekui.wang@huawei.com

      Intended usage:  COMMON

      Author:
         Ye-Kui Wang, yekui.wang@huawei.com

      Change controller:
         IETF Audio/Video Transport working group delegated from the
         IESG.

<span class="h3"><a class="selflink" id="section-8.2" href="#section-8.2">8.2</a>.  SDP Parameters</span>

   The receiver MUST ignore any parameter unspecified in this memo.

<span class="h4"><a class="selflink" id="section-8.2.1" href="#section-8.2.1">8.2.1</a>.  Mapping of Payload Type Parameters to SDP</span>

   The media type video/H264 string is mapped to fields in the Session
   Description Protocol (SDP) [<a href="#ref-6" title="&quot;SDP: Session Description Protocol&quot;">6</a>] as follows:

   o  The media name in the "m=" line of SDP MUST be video.

   o  The encoding name in the "a=rtpmap" line of SDP MUST be H264 (the
      media subtype).

   o  The clock rate in the "a=rtpmap" line MUST be 90000.

   o  The OPTIONAL parameters profile-level-id, max-recv-level, max-
      mbps, max-smbps, max-fs, max-cpb, max-dpb, max-br, redundant-pic-
      cap, use-level-src-parameter-sets, in-band-parameter-sets, level-
      asymmetry-allowed, packetization-mode, sprop-interleaving-depth,
      sprop-deint-buf-req, deint-buf-cap, sprop-init-buf-time, sprop-
      max-don-diff, max-rcmd-nalu-size, sar-understood, and sar-
      supported, when present, MUST be included in the "a=fmtp" line of
      SDP.  These parameters are expressed as a media type string, in
      the form of a semicolon-separated list of parameter=value pairs.

   o  The OPTIONAL parameters sprop-parameter-sets and sprop-level-
      parameter-sets, when present, MUST be included in the "a=fmtp"
      line of SDP or conveyed using the "fmtp" source attribute as
      specified in Section 6.3 of [<a href="#ref-9" title="&quot;Source-Specific Media Attributes in the Session Description Protocol (SDP)&quot;">9</a>].  For a particular media format
      (i.e., RTP payload type), a sprop-parameter-sets or sprop-level-
      parameter-sets MUST NOT be both included in the "a=fmtp" line of



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      SDP and conveyed using the "fmtp" source attribute.  When included
      in the "a=fmtp" line of SDP, these parameters are expressed as a
      media type string, in the form of a semicolon-separated list of
      parameter=value pairs.  When conveyed using the "fmtp" source
      attribute, these parameters are only associated with the given
      source and payload type as parts of the "fmtp" source attribute.

         Informative note: Conveyance of sprop-parameter-sets and sprop-
         level-parameter-sets using the "fmtp" source attribute allows
         for out-of-band transport of parameter sets in topologies like
         Topo-Video-switch-MCU [<a href="#ref-29" title="&quot;RTP Topologies&quot;">29</a>].

   An example of media representation in SDP is as follows (Baseline
   profile, Level 3.0, some of the constraints of the Main profile may
   not be obeyed):

      m=video 49170 RTP/AVP 98
      a=rtpmap:98 H264/90000
      a=fmtp:98 profile-level-id=42A01E;
                packetization-mode=1;
                sprop-parameter-sets=&lt;parameter sets data&gt;

<span class="h4"><a class="selflink" id="section-8.2.2" href="#section-8.2.2">8.2.2</a>.  Usage with the SDP Offer/Answer Model</span>

   When H.264 is offered over RTP using SDP in an Offer/Answer model [<a href="#ref-8" title="&quot;An Offer/Answer Model with Session Description Protocol (SDP)&quot;">8</a>]
   for negotiation for unicast usage, the following limitations and
   rules apply:

   o  The parameters identifying a media format configuration for H.264
      are profile-level-id and packetization-mode.  These media format
      configuration parameters (except for the level part of profile-
      level-id) MUST be used symmetrically; that is, the answerer MUST
      either maintain all configuration parameters or remove the media
      format (payload type) completely if one or more of the parameter
      values are not supported.  Note that the level part of profile-
      level-id includes level_idc, and, for indication of Level 1b when
      profile_idc is equal to 66, 77, or 88, bit 4
      (constraint_set3_flag) of profile-iop.  The level part of profile-
      level-id is changeable.

         Informative note: The requirement for symmetric use does not
         apply for the level part of profile-level-id and does not apply
         for the other stream properties and capability parameters.

         Informative note: In H.264 [<a href="#ref-1" title="&quot;Advanced video coding for generic audiovisual services&quot;">1</a>], all the levels except for Level
         1b are equal to the value of level_idc divided by 10.  Level 1b
         is a level higher than Level 1.0 but lower than Level 1.1 and
         is signaled in an ad hoc manner, because the level was



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         specified after Level 1.0 and Level 1.1.  For the Baseline,
         Main, and Extended profiles (with profile_idc equal to 66, 77,
         and 88, respectively), Level 1b is indicated by level_idc equal
         to 11 (i.e., same as Level 1.1) and constraint_set3_flag equal
         to 1.  For other profiles, Level 1b is indicated by level_idc
         equal to 9 (but note that Level 1b for these profiles are still
         higher than Level 1, which has level_idc equal to 10 and lower
         than Level 1.1).  In SDP Offer/Answer, an answer to an offer
         may indicate a level equal to or lower than the level indicated
         in the offer.  Due to the ad hoc indication of Level 1b,
         offerers and answerers must check the value of bit 4
         (constraint_set3_flag) of the middle octet of the parameter
         profile-level-id, when profile_idc is equal to 66, 77, or 88
         and level_idc is equal to 11.

      To simplify the handling and matching of these configurations, the
      same RTP payload type number used in the offer SHOULD also be used
      in the answer, as specified in [<a href="#ref-8" title="&quot;An Offer/Answer Model with Session Description Protocol (SDP)&quot;">8</a>].  An answer MUST NOT contain
      the payload type number used in the offer unless the configuration
      is exactly the same as in the offer.

         Informative note: When an offerer receives an answer, it has to
         compare payload types not declared in the offer based on the
         media type (i.e., video/H264) and the above media configuration
         parameters with any payload types it has already declared.
         This will enable it to determine whether the configuration in
         question is new or if it is equivalent to configuration already
         offered, since a different payload type number may be used in
         the answer.

   o  When present, the parameter max-recv-level declares the highest
      level supported for receiving.  In case max-recv-level is not
      present, the highest level supported for receiving is equal to the
      default level indicated by the level part of profile-level-id.
      When present, max-recv-level MUST be higher than the default
      level.

   o  The parameter level-asymmetry-allowed indicates whether level
      asymmetry is allowed.

      If level-asymmetry-allowed is equal to 0 (or not present) in
      either the offer or the answer, level asymmetry is not allowed.
      In this case, the level to use in the direction from the offerer
      to the answerer MUST be the same as the level to use in the
      opposite direction, and the common level to use is equal to the
      lower value of the default level in the offer and the default
      level in the answer.




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      Otherwise, level-asymmetry-allowed equals 1 in both the offer and
      the answer, and level asymmetry is allowed.  In this case, the
      level to use in the offerer-to-answerer direction MUST be equal to
      the highest level the answerer supports for receiving, and the
      level to use in the answerer-to-offerer direction MUST be equal to
      the highest level the offerer supports for receiving.

      When level asymmetry is not allowed, level upgrade is not allowed,
      i.e., the default level in the answer MUST be equal to or lower
      than the default level in the offer.

   o  The parameters sprop-deint-buf-req, sprop-interleaving-depth,
      sprop-max-don-diff, and sprop-init-buf-time describe the
      properties of the RTP packet stream that the offerer or answerer
      is sending for the media format configuration.  This differs from
      the normal usage of the Offer/Answer parameters: normally such
      parameters declare the properties of the stream that the offerer
      or the answerer is able to receive.  When dealing with H.264, the
      offerer assumes that the answerer will be able to receive media
      encoded using the configuration being offered.

         Informative note: The above parameters apply for any stream
         sent by a declaring entity with the same configuration; i.e.,
         they are dependent on their source.  Rather than being bound to
         the payload type, the values may have to be applied to another
         payload type when being sent, as they apply for the
         configuration.

   o  The capability parameters max-mbps, max-smbps, max-fs, max-cpb,
      max-dpb, max-br, redundant-pic-cap, max-rcmd-nalu-size, sar-
      understood, and sar-supported MAY be used to declare further
      capabilities of the offerer or answerer for receiving.  These
      parameters MUST NOT be present when the direction attribute is
      "sendonly" and when the parameters describe the limitations of
      what the offerer or answerer accepts for receiving streams.

   o  An offerer has to include the size of the de-interleaving buffer,
      sprop-deint-buf-req, in the offer for an interleaved H.264 stream.
      To enable the offerer and answerer to inform each other about
      their capabilities for de-interleaving buffering in receiving
      streams, both parties are RECOMMENDED to include deint-buf-cap.
      For interleaved streams, it is also RECOMMENDED to consider
      offering multiple payload types with different buffering
      requirements when the capabilities of the receiver are unknown.

   o  The sprop-parameter-sets or sprop-level-parameter-sets parameter,
      when present (included in the "a=fmtp" line of SDP or conveyed
      using the "fmtp" source attribute as specified in <a href="#section-6.3">Section 6.3</a> of



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      [<a href="#ref-9" title="&quot;Source-Specific Media Attributes in the Session Description Protocol (SDP)&quot;">9</a>]), is used for out-of-band transport of parameter sets.
      However, when out-of-band transport of parameter sets is used,
      parameter sets MAY still be additionally transported in-band.

      The answerer MAY use either out-of-band or in-band transport of
      parameter sets for the stream it is sending, regardless of whether
      out-of-band parameter sets transport has been used in the offerer-
      to-answerer direction.  Parameter sets included in an answer are
      independent of those parameter sets included in the offer, as they
      are used for decoding two different video streams, one from the
      answerer to the offerer and the other in the opposite direction.

      The following rules apply to transport of parameter sets in the
      offerer-to-answerer direction.

         o  An offer MAY include either or both of sprop-parameter-sets
            and sprop-level-parameter-sets.  If neither sprop-parameter-
            sets nor sprop-level-parameter-sets is present in the offer,
            then only in-band transport of parameter sets is used.

         o  If the answer includes in-band-parameter-sets equal to 1,
            then the offerer MUST transmit parameter sets in-band.
            Otherwise, the following applies.

               o  If the level to use in the offerer-to-answerer
                  direction is equal to the default level in the offer,
                  the following applies.

                     When there is a sprop-parameter-sets included in
                     the "a=fmtp" line in the offer, the answerer MUST
                     be prepared to use the parameter sets included in
                     the sprop-parameter-sets for decoding the incoming
                     NAL unit stream.

                     When there is a sprop-parameter-sets conveyed using
                     the "fmtp" source attribute in the offer, the
                     following applies.  If the answer includes use-
                     level-src-parameter-sets equal to 1 or the "fmtp"
                     source attribute, the answerer MUST be prepared to
                     use the parameter sets included in the sprop-
                     parameter-sets for decoding the incoming NAL unit
                     stream;  otherwise, the offerer MUST transmit
                     parameter sets in-band.

                     When sprop-parameter-sets is not present in the
                     offer, the offerer MUST transmit parameter sets in-
                     band.




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                     The answerer MUST ignore sprop-level-parameter-
                     sets, when present (either included in the "a=fmtp"
                     line or conveyed using the "fmtp" source attribute)
                     in the offer.

               o  Otherwise, the level to use in the offerer-to-answerer
                  direction is not equal to the default level in the
                  offer, and the following applies.

                     The answerer MUST ignore sprop-parameter-sets, when
                     present (either included in the "a=fmtp" line or
                     conveyed using the "fmtp" source attribute) in the
                     offer.

                     When neither use-level-src-parameter-sets is equal
                     to 1 nor the "fmtp" source attribute is present in
                     the answer, the answerer MUST ignore sprop-level-
                     parameter-sets, when present in the offer, and the
                     offerer MUST transmit parameter sets in-band.

                     When either use-level-src-parameter-sets is equal
                     to 1 or the "fmtp" source attribute is present in
                     the answer, the answerer MUST be prepared to use
                     the parameter sets that are included in sprop-
                     level-parameter-sets for the accepted level (i.e.,
                     the default level in the answer), when present in
                     the offer, for decoding the incoming NAL unit
                     stream, and ignore all other parameter sets
                     included in sprop-level-parameter-sets.

                     When no parameter sets for the level to use in the
                     offerer-to-answerer direction are present in sprop-
                     level-parameter-sets in the offer, the offerer MUST
                     transmit parameter sets in-band.

      The following rules apply to the transport of parameter sets in
      the answerer-to-offerer direction.

         o  An answer MAY include either sprop-parameter-sets or sprop-
            level-parameter-sets but MUST NOT include both.  If neither
            sprop-parameter-sets nor sprop-level-parameter-sets is
            present in the answer, then only in-band transport of
            parameter sets is used.

         o  If the offer includes in-band-parameter-sets equal to 1, the
            answerer MUST NOT include sprop-parameter-sets or sprop-
            level-parameter-sets in the answer and MUST transmit
            parameter sets in-band.  Otherwise, the following applies.



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               o  If the level to use in the answerer-to-offerer
                  direction is equal to the default level in the answer,
                  the following applies.

                     When there is a sprop-parameter-sets included in
                     the "a=fmtp" line in the answer, the offerer MUST
                     be prepared to use the parameter sets included in
                     the sprop-parameter-sets for decoding the incoming
                     NAL unit stream.

                     When there is a sprop-parameter-sets conveyed using
                     the "fmtp" source attribute in the answer, the
                     following applies.  If the offer includes use-
                     level-src-parameter-sets equal to 1 or the "fmtp"
                     source attribute, the offerer MUST be prepared to
                     use the parameter sets included in the sprop-
                     parameter-sets for decoding the incoming NAL unit
                     stream;  otherwise, the answerer MUST transmit
                     parameter sets in-band.

                     When sprop-parameter-sets is not present in the
                     answer, the answerer MUST transmit parameter sets
                     in-band.

                     The offerer MUST ignore sprop-level-parameter-sets,
                     when present (either included in the "a=fmtp" line
                     or conveyed using the "fmtp" source attribute) in
                     the answer.

               o  Otherwise, the level to use in the answerer-to-offerer
                  direction is not equal to the default level in the
                  answer, and the following applies.

                     The offerer MUST ignore sprop-parameter-sets when
                     present (either included in the "a=fmtp" line of
                     SDP or conveyed using the "fmtp" source attribute)
                     in the answer.

                     When neither use-level-src-parameter-sets is equal
                     to 1 nor the "fmtp" source attribute is present in
                     the offer, the offerer MUST ignore sprop-level-
                     parameter-sets, when present, and the answerer MUST
                     transmit parameter sets in-band.

                     When either use-level-src-parameter-sets is equal
                     to 1 or the "fmtp" source attribute is present in
                     the offer, the offerer MUST be prepared to use the
                     parameter sets that are included in sprop-level-



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                     parameter-sets for the level to use in the
                     answerer-to-offerer direction, when present in the
                     answer, for decoding the incoming NAL unit stream,
                     and ignore all other parameter sets included in
                     sprop-level-parameter-sets in the answer.

                     When no parameter sets for the level to use in the
                     answerer-to-offerer direction are present in sprop-
                     level-parameter-sets in the answer, the answerer
                     MUST transmit parameter sets in-band.

      When sprop-parameter-sets or sprop-level-parameter-sets is
      conveyed using the "fmtp" source attribute as specified in <a href="#section-6.3">Section</a>
      <a href="#section-6.3">6.3</a> of [<a href="#ref-9" title="&quot;Source-Specific Media Attributes in the Session Description Protocol (SDP)&quot;">9</a>], the receiver of the parameters MUST store the
      parameter sets included in the sprop-parameter-sets or sprop-
      level-parameter-sets for the accepted level and associate them
      with the source given as a part of the "fmtp" source attribute.
      Parameter sets associated with one source MUST only be used to
      decode NAL units conveyed in RTP packets from the same source.
      When this mechanism is in use, SSRC collision detection and
      resolution MUST be performed as specified in [<a href="#ref-9" title="&quot;Source-Specific Media Attributes in the Session Description Protocol (SDP)&quot;">9</a>].

         Informative note: Conveyance of sprop-parameter-sets and sprop-
         level-parameter-sets using the "fmtp" source attribute may be
         used in topologies like Topo-Video-switch-MCU [<a href="#ref-29" title="&quot;RTP Topologies&quot;">29</a>] to enable
         out-of-band transport of parameter sets.

   For streams being delivered over multicast, the following rules
   apply:

   o  The media format configuration is identified by "profile-level-
      id", including the level part, and packetization-mode.  These
      media format configuration parameters (including the level part of
      profile-level-id) MUST be used symmetrically; that is, the
      answerer MUST either maintain all configuration parameters or
      remove the media format (payload type) completely.  Note that this
      implies that the level part of profile-level-id for Offer/Answer
      in multicast is not changeable.

      To simplify the handling and matching of these configurations, the
      same RTP payload type number used in the offer SHOULD also be used
      in the answer, as specified in [<a href="#ref-8" title="&quot;An Offer/Answer Model with Session Description Protocol (SDP)&quot;">8</a>].  An answer MUST NOT contain a
      payload type number used in the offer unless the configuration is
      the same as in the offer.

   o  Parameter sets received MUST be associated with the originating
      source and MUST only be used in decoding the incoming NAL unit
      stream from the same source.



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   o  The rules for other parameters are the same as above for unicast
      as long as the above rules are obeyed.

   Table 6 lists the interpretation of all the media type parameters
   that MUST be used for the different direction attributes.

       Table 6.  Interpretation of parameters for different direction
                 attributes

                                              sendonly --+
                                           recvonly --+  |
                                        sendrecv --+  |  |
                                                   |  |  |
                profile-level-id                   C  C  P
                max-recv-level                     R  R  -
                packetization-mode                 C  C  P
                sprop-deint-buf-req                P  -  P
                sprop-interleaving-depth           P  -  P
                sprop-max-don-diff                 P  -  P
                sprop-init-buf-time                P  -  P
                max-mbps                           R  R  -
                max-smbps                          R  R  -
                max-fs                             R  R  -
                max-cpb                            R  R  -
                max-dpb                            R  R  -
                max-br                             R  R  -
                redundant-pic-cap                  R  R  -
                deint-buf-cap                      R  R  -
                max-rcmd-nalu-size                 R  R  -
                sar-understood                     R  R  -
                sar-supported                      R  R  -
                in-band-parameter-sets             R  R  -
                use-level-src-parameter-sets       R  R  -
                level-asymmetry-allowed            O  -  -
                sprop-parameter-sets               S  -  S
                sprop-level-parameter-sets         S  -  S

             Legend:

             C: configuration for sending and receiving streams
             O: offer/answer mode
             P: properties of the stream to be sent
             R: receiver capabilities
             S: out-of-band parameter sets
             -: not usable (when present, SHOULD be ignored)






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   Parameters used for declaring receiver capabilities are in general
   downgradable; that is, they express the upper limit for a sender's
   possible behavior.  Thus, a sender MAY select to set its encoder
   using only lower/less or equal values of these parameters.

   Parameters declaring a configuration point are not changeable, with
   the exception of the level part of the profile-level-id parameter for
   unicast usage.

   When a sender's capabilities are declared and non-downgradable
   parameters are used in this declaration, these parameters express a
   configuration that is acceptable for the sender to receive streams.
   In order to achieve high interoperability levels, it is often
   advisable to offer multiple alternative configurations, e.g., for the
   packetization mode.  It is impossible to offer multiple
   configurations in a single payload type.  Thus, when multiple
   configuration offers are made, each offer requires its own RTP
   payload type associated with the offer.

   A receiver SHOULD understand all media type parameters, even if it
   only supports a subset of the payload format's functionality.  This
   ensures that a receiver is capable of understanding when an offer to
   receive media can be downgraded to what is supported by the receiver
   of the offer.

   An answerer MAY extend the offer with additional media format
   configurations.  However, to enable their usage, in most cases, a
   second offer is required from the offerer to provide the stream
   property parameters that the media sender will use.  This also has
   the effect that the offerer has to be able to receive this media
   format configuration, not only to send it.

   If an offerer wishes to have non-symmetric capabilities between
   sending and receiving, the offerer can allow asymmetric levels via
   level-asymmetry-allowed being equal to 1.  Alternatively, the offerer
   could offer different RTP sessions, i.e., different media lines
   declared as "recvonly" and "sendonly", respectively.  This may have
   further implications on the system and may require additional
   external semantics to associate the two media lines.

<span class="h4"><a class="selflink" id="section-8.2.3" href="#section-8.2.3">8.2.3</a>.  Usage in Declarative Session Descriptions</span>

   When H.264 over RTP is offered with SDP in a declarative style, as in
   Real Time Streaming Protocol (RTSP) [<a href="#ref-27" title="&quot;Real Time Streaming Protocol (RTSP)&quot;">27</a>] or Session Announcement
   Protocol (SAP) [<a href="#ref-28" title="&quot;Session Announcement Protocol&quot;">28</a>], the following considerations are necessary.






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   o  All parameters capable of indicating both stream properties and
      receiver capabilities are used to indicate only stream properties.
      For example, in this case, the parameter profile-level-id declares
      only the values used by the stream, not the capabilities for
      receiving streams.  The result of this is that the following
      interpretation of the parameters MUST be used:

      Declaring actual configuration or stream properties:

         - profile-level-id
         - packetization-mode
         - sprop-interleaving-depth
         - sprop-deint-buf-req
         - sprop-max-don-diff
         - sprop-init-buf-time

      Out-of-band transporting of parameter sets:

         - sprop-parameter-sets
         - sprop-level-parameter-sets

      Not usable (when present, they SHOULD be ignored):

         - max-mbps
         - max-smbps
         - max-fs
         - max-cpb
         - max-dpb
         - max-br
         - max-recv-level
         - redundant-pic-cap
         - max-rcmd-nalu-size
         - deint-buf-cap
         - sar-understood
         - sar-supported
         - in-band-parameter-sets
         - level-asymmetry-allowed
         - use-level-src-parameter-sets

   o  A receiver of the SDP is required to support all parameters and
      values of the parameters provided; otherwise, the receiver MUST
      reject (RTSP) or not participate in (SAP) the session.  It falls
      on the creator of the session to use values that are expected to
      be supported by the receiving application.







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<span class="h3"><a class="selflink" id="section-8.3" href="#section-8.3">8.3</a>.  Examples</span>

   An SDP Offer/Answer exchange wherein both parties are expected to
   both send and receive could look like the following.  Only the media-
   codec-specific parts of the SDP are shown.  Some lines are wrapped
   due to text constraints.

      Offerer -&gt; Answerer SDP message:

      m=video 49170 RTP/AVP 100 99 98
      a=rtpmap:98 H264/90000
      a=fmtp:98 profile-level-id=42A01E; packetization-mode=0;
        sprop-parameter-sets=&lt;parameter sets data#0&gt;
      a=rtpmap:99 H264/90000
      a=fmtp:99 profile-level-id=42A01E; packetization-mode=1;
        sprop-parameter-sets=&lt;parameter sets data#1&gt;
      a=rtpmap:100 H264/90000
      a=fmtp:100 profile-level-id=42A01E; packetization-mode=2;
        sprop-parameter-sets=&lt;parameter sets data#2&gt;;
        sprop-interleaving-depth=45; sprop-deint-buf-req=64000;
        sprop-init-buf-time=102478; deint-buf-cap=128000

   The above offer presents the same codec configuration in three
   different packetization formats.  Payload type 98 represents single
   NALU mode, payload type 99 represents non-interleaved mode, and
   payload type 100 indicates the interleaved mode.  In the interleaved
   mode case, the interleaving parameters that the offerer would use if
   the answer indicates support for payload type 100 are also included.
   In all three cases, the parameter sprop-parameter-sets conveys the
   initial parameter sets that are required by the answerer when
   receiving a stream from the offerer when this configuration is
   accepted.  Note that the value for sprop-parameter-sets could be
   different for each payload type.


















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      Answerer -&gt; Offerer SDP message:

      m=video 49170 RTP/AVP 100 99 97
      a=rtpmap:97 H264/90000
      a=fmtp:97 profile-level-id=42A01E; packetization-mode=0;
        sprop-parameter-sets=&lt;parameter sets data#3&gt;
      a=rtpmap:99 H264/90000
      a=fmtp:99 profile-level-id=42A01E; packetization-mode=1;
        sprop-parameter-sets=&lt;parameter sets data#4&gt;;
        max-rcmd-nalu-size=3980
      a=rtpmap:100 H264/90000
      a=fmtp:100 profile-level-id=42A01E; packetization-mode=2;
        sprop-parameter-sets=&lt;parameter sets data#5&gt;;
        sprop-interleaving-depth=60;
        sprop-deint-buf-req=86000; sprop-init-buf-time=156320;
        deint-buf-cap=128000; max-rcmd-nalu-size=3980

   As the Offer/Answer negotiation covers both sending and receiving
   streams, an offer indicates the exact parameters for what the offerer
   is willing to receive, whereas the answer indicates the same for what
   the answerer is willing to receive.  In this case, the offerer
   declared that it is willing to receive payload type 98.  The answerer
   accepts this by declaring an equivalent payload type 97; that is, it
   has identical values for the two parameters profile-level-id and
   packetization-mode (since packetization-mode is equal to 0 and sprop-
   deint-buf-req is not present).  As the offered payload type 98 is
   accepted, the answerer needs to store parameter sets included in
   sprop-parameter-sets=&lt;parameter sets data#0&gt; in case the offer
   finally decides to use this configuration.  In the answer, the
   answerer includes the parameter sets in sprop-parameter-
   sets=&lt;parameter sets data#3&gt; that the answerer would use in the
   stream sent from the answerer if this configuration is finally used.

   The answerer also accepts the reception of the two configurations
   that payload types 99 and 100 represent.  Again, the answerer needs
   to store parameter sets included in sprop-parameter-sets=&lt;parameter
   sets data#1&gt; and sprop-parameter-sets=&lt;parameter sets data#2&gt; in case
   the offer finally decides to use either of these two configurations.
   The answerer provides the initial parameter sets for the answerer-to-
   offerer direction, i.e., the parameter sets in sprop-parameter-
   sets=&lt;parameter sets data#4&gt; and sprop-parameter-sets=&lt;parameter sets
   data#5&gt;, for payload types 99 and 100, respectively, that it will use
   to send the payload types.  The answerer also provides the offerer
   with its memory limit for de-interleaving operations by providing a
   deint-buf-cap parameter.  This is only useful if the offerer decides
   on making a second offer, where it can take the new value into





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   account.  The max-rcmd-nalu-size indicates that the answerer can
   efficiently process NALUs up to the size of 3980 bytes.  However,
   there is no guarantee that the network supports this size.

   In the following example, the offer is accepted without level
   downgrading (i.e., the default level, Level 3.0, is accepted), and
   both sprop-parameter-sets and sprop-level-parameter-sets are present
   in the offer.  The answerer must ignore sprop-level-parameter-
   sets=&lt;parameter sets data#1&gt; and store parameter sets in sprop-
   parameter-sets=&lt;parameter sets data#0&gt; for decoding the incoming NAL
   unit stream.  The offerer must store the parameter sets in sprop-
   parameter-sets=&lt;parameter sets data#2&gt; in the answer for decoding the
   incoming NAL unit stream.  Note that in this example, parameter sets
   in sprop-parameter-sets=&lt;parameter sets data#2&gt; must be associated
   with Level 3.0.

      Offer SDP:

      m=video 49170 RTP/AVP 98
      a=rtpmap:98 H264/90000
      a=fmtp:98 profile-level-id=42A01E; //Baseline profile, Level 3.0
        packetization-mode=1;
        sprop-parameter-sets=&lt;parameter sets data#0&gt;;
        sprop-level-parameter-sets=&lt;parameter sets data#1&gt;

      Answer SDP:

      m=video 49170 RTP/AVP 98
      a=rtpmap:98 H264/90000
      a=fmtp:98 profile-level-id=42A01E; //Baseline profile, Level 3.0
        packetization-mode=1;
        sprop-parameter-sets=&lt;parameter sets data#2&gt;

   In the following example, the offer (Baseline profile, Level 1.1) is
   accepted with level downgrading (the accepted level is Level 1b), and
   both sprop-parameter-sets and sprop-level-parameter-sets are present
   in the offer.  The answerer must ignore sprop-parameter-
   sets=&lt;parameter sets data#0&gt; and all parameter sets not for the
   accepted level (Level 1b) in sprop-level-parameter-sets=&lt;parameter
   sets data#1&gt; and must store parameter sets for the accepted level
   (Level 1b) in sprop-level-parameter-sets=&lt;parameter sets data#1&gt; for
   decoding the incoming NAL unit stream.  The offerer must store the
   parameter sets in sprop-parameter-sets=&lt;parameter sets data#2&gt; in the
   answer for decoding the incoming NAL unit stream.  Note that in this
   example, parameter sets in sprop-parameter-sets=&lt;parameter sets
   data#2&gt; must be associated with Level 1b.





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      Offer SDP:

      m=video 49170 RTP/AVP 98
      a=rtpmap:98 H264/90000
      a=fmtp:98 profile-level-id=42A00B; //Baseline profile, Level 1.1
        packetization-mode=1;
        sprop-parameter-sets=&lt;parameter sets data#0&gt;;
        sprop-level-parameter-sets=&lt;parameter sets data#1&gt;

      Answer SDP:

      m=video 49170 RTP/AVP 98
      a=rtpmap:98 H264/90000
      a=fmtp:98 profile-level-id=42B00B; //Baseline profile, Level 1b
        packetization-mode=1;
        sprop-parameter-sets=&lt;parameter sets data#2&gt;;
        use-level-src-parameter-sets=1

   In the following example, the offer (Baseline profile, Level 1.1) is
   accepted with level downgrading (the accepted level is Level 1b), and
   both sprop-parameter-sets and sprop-level-parameter-sets are present
   in the offer.  However, the answerer is a legacy <a href="./rfc3984">RFC 3984</a>
   implementation and does not understand sprop-level-parameter-sets;
   hence, it does not include use-level-src-parameter-sets (which the
   answerer does not understand either) in the answer.  Therefore, the
   answerer must ignore both sprop-parameter-sets=&lt;parameter sets
   data#0&gt; and sprop-level-parameter-sets=&lt;parameter sets data#1&gt;, and
   the offerer must transport parameter sets in-band.

      Offer SDP:

      m=video 49170 RTP/AVP 98
      a=rtpmap:98 H264/90000
      a=fmtp:98 profile-level-id=42A00B; //Baseline profile, Level 1.1
        packetization-mode=1;
        sprop-parameter-sets=&lt;parameter sets data#0&gt;;
        sprop-level-parameter-sets=&lt;parameter sets data#1&gt;

      Answer SDP:

      m=video 49170 RTP/AVP 98
      a=rtpmap:98 H264/90000
      a=fmtp:98 profile-level-id=42B00B; //Baseline profile, Level 1b
        packetization-mode=1

   In the following example, the offer is accepted without level
   downgrading, and sprop-parameter-sets is present in the offer.
   Parameter sets in sprop-parameter-sets=&lt;parameter sets data#0&gt; must



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   be stored and used by the encoder of the offerer and the decoder of
   the answerer, and parameter sets in sprop-parameter-sets=&lt;parameter
   sets data#1&gt; must be used by the encoder of the answerer and the
   decoder of the offerer.  Note that sprop-parameter-sets=&lt;parameter
   sets data#0&gt; is basically independent of sprop-parameter-
   sets=&lt;parameter sets data#1&gt;.

      Offer SDP:

      m=video 49170 RTP/AVP 98
      a=rtpmap:98 H264/90000
      a=fmtp:98 profile-level-id=42A01E; //Baseline profile, Level 3.0
        packetization-mode=1;
        sprop-parameter-sets=&lt;parameter sets data#0&gt;

      Answer SDP:

      m=video 49170 RTP/AVP 98
      a=rtpmap:98 H264/90000
      a=fmtp:98 profile-level-id=42A01E; //Baseline profile, Level 3.0
        packetization-mode=1;
        sprop-parameter-sets=&lt;parameter sets data#1&gt;

   In the following example, the offer is accepted without level
   downgrading, and neither sprop-parameter-sets nor sprop-level-
   parameter-sets is present in the offer, meaning that there is no out-
   of-band transmission of parameter sets, which then have to be
   transported in-band.

      Offer SDP:

      m=video 49170 RTP/AVP 98
      a=rtpmap:98 H264/90000
      a=fmtp:98 profile-level-id=42A01E; //Baseline profile, Level 3.0
        packetization-mode=1

      Answer SDP:

      m=video 49170 RTP/AVP 98
      a=rtpmap:98 H264/90000
      a=fmtp:98 profile-level-id=42A01E; //Baseline profile, Level 3.0
        packetization-mode=1









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   In the following example, the offer is accepted with level
   downgrading and sprop-parameter-sets is present in the offer.  As
   sprop-parameter-sets=&lt;parameter sets data#0&gt; contains level_idc
   indicating Level 3.0, it therefore cannot be used, as the answerer
   wants Level 2.0, and must be ignored by the answerer, and in-band
   parameter sets must be used.

      Offer SDP:

      m=video 49170 RTP/AVP 98
      a=rtpmap:98 H264/90000
      a=fmtp:98 profile-level-id=42A01E; //Baseline profile, Level 3.0
        packetization-mode=1;
        sprop-parameter-sets=&lt;parameter sets data#0&gt;

      Answer SDP:

      m=video 49170 RTP/AVP 98
      a=rtpmap:98 H264/90000
      a=fmtp:98 profile-level-id=42A014; //Baseline profile, Level 2.0
        packetization-mode=1

   In the following example, the offer is also accepted with level
   downgrading, and neither sprop-parameter-sets nor sprop-level-
   parameter-sets is present in the offer, meaning that there is no out-
   of-band transmission of parameter sets, which then have to be
   transported in-band.

      Offer SDP:

      m=video 49170 RTP/AVP 98
      a=rtpmap:98 H264/90000
      a=fmtp:98 profile-level-id=42A01E; //Baseline profile, Level 3.0
        packetization-mode=1

      Answer SDP:

      m=video 49170 RTP/AVP 98
      a=rtpmap:98 H264/90000
      a=fmtp:98 profile-level-id=42A014; //Baseline profile, Level 2.0
        packetization-mode=1

   In the following example, the offer is accepted with level upgrading,
   and neither sprop-parameter-sets nor sprop-level-parameter-sets is
   present in the offer or the answer, meaning that there is no out-of-
   band transmission of parameter sets, which then have to be
   transported in-band.  The level to use in the offerer-to-answerer
   direction is Level 3.0, and the level to use in the answerer-to-



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   offerer direction is Level 2.0.  The answerer is allowed to send at
   any level up to and including Level 2.0, and the offerer is allowed
   to send at any level up to and including Level 3.0.

      Offer SDP:

      m=video 49170 RTP/AVP 98
      a=rtpmap:98 H264/90000
      a=fmtp:98 profile-level-id=42A014; //Baseline profile, Level 2.0
        packetization-mode=1; level-asymmetry-allowed=1

      Answer SDP:

      m=video 49170 RTP/AVP 98
      a=rtpmap:98 H264/90000
      a=fmtp:98 profile-level-id=42A01E; //Baseline profile, Level 3.0
        packetization-mode=1; level-asymmetry-allowed=1

   In the following example, the offerer is a Multipoint Control Unit
   (MCU) in a topology like Topo-Video-switch-MCU [<a href="#ref-29" title="&quot;RTP Topologies&quot;">29</a>], offering
   parameter sets received (using out-of-band transport) from three
   other participants (B, C, and D) and receiving parameter sets from
   the participant A, which is the answerer.  The participants are
   identified by their values of canonical name (CNAME), which are
   mapped to different SSRC values.  The same codec configuration is
   used by all four participants.  The participant A stores and
   associates the parameter sets included in &lt;parameter sets data#B&gt;,
   &lt;parameter sets data#C&gt;, and &lt;parameter sets data#D&gt; to participants
   B, C, and D, respectively, and uses &lt;parameter sets data#B&gt; for
   decoding NAL units carried in RTP packets originating from
   participant B only, uses &lt;parameter sets data#C&gt; for decoding NAL
   units carried in RTP packets originating from participant C only, and
   uses &lt;parameter sets data#D&gt; for decoding NAL units carried in RTP
   packets originating from participant D only.

















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      Offer SDP:

      m=video 49170 RTP/AVP 98
      a=ssrc:SSRC-B cname:CNAME-B
      a=ssrc:SSRC-C cname:CNAME-C
      a=ssrc:SSRC-D cname:CNAME-D
      a=ssrc:SSRC-B fmtp:98
        sprop-parameter-sets=&lt;parameter sets data#B&gt;
      a=ssrc:SSRC-C fmtp:98
        sprop-parameter-sets=&lt;parameter sets data#C&gt;
      a=ssrc:SSRC-D fmtp:98
        sprop-parameter-sets=&lt;parameter sets data#D&gt;
      a=rtpmap:98 H264/90000
      a=fmtp:98 profile-level-id=42A01E; //Baseline profile, Level 3.0
        packetization-mode=1

      Answer SDP:

      m=video 49170 RTP/AVP 98
      a=ssrc:SSRC-A cname:CNAME-A
      a=ssrc:SSRC-A fmtp:98
        sprop-parameter-sets=&lt;parameter sets data#A&gt;
      a=rtpmap:98 H264/90000
      a=fmtp:98 profile-level-id=42A01E; //Baseline profile, Level 3.0
        packetization-mode=1

<span class="h3"><a class="selflink" id="section-8.4" href="#section-8.4">8.4</a>.  Parameter Set Considerations</span>

   The H.264 parameter sets are a fundamental part of the video codec
   and vital to its operation (see <a href="#section-1.2">Section 1.2</a>).  Due to their
   characteristics and their importance for the decoding process, lost
   or erroneously transmitted parameter sets can hardly be concealed
   locally at the receiver.  A reference to a corrupt parameter set
   normally has fatal results to the decoding process.  Corruption could
   occur, for example, due to the erroneous transmission or loss of a
   parameter set NAL unit but also due to the untimely transmission of a
   parameter set update.  A parameter set update refers to a change of
   at least one parameter in a picture parameter set or sequence
   parameter set for which the picture parameter set or sequence
   parameter set identifier remains unchanged.  Therefore, the following
   recommendations are provided as a guideline for the implementer of
   the RTP sender.









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   Parameter set NALUs can be transported using three different
   principles:

   A.  Using a session control protocol (out-of-band) prior to the
       actual RTP session.

   B.  Using a session control protocol (out-of-band) during an ongoing
       RTP session.

   C.  Within the RTP packet stream in the payload (in-band) during an
       ongoing RTP session.

   It is recommended to implement principles A and B within a session
   control protocol.  SIP and SDP can be used as described in the SDP
   Offer/Answer model and in the previous sections of this memo.
   <a href="#section-8.2.2">Section 8.2.2</a> includes a detailed discussion on transport of
   parameter sets in-band or out-of-band in SDP Offer/Answer using media
   type parameters sprop-parameter-sets, sprop-level-parameter-sets,
   use-level-src-parameter-sets, and in-band-parameter-sets.  This
   section contains guidelines on how principles A and B should be
   implemented within session control protocols.  It is independent of
   the particular protocol used.  Principle C is supported by the RTP
   payload format defined in this specification.  There are topologies
   like Topo-Video-switch-MCU [<a href="#ref-29" title="&quot;RTP Topologies&quot;">29</a>] for which the use of principle C may
   be desirable.

   If in-band signaling of parameter sets is used, the picture and
   sequence parameter set NALUs SHOULD be transmitted in the RTP payload
   using a reliable method of delivering of RTP (see below), as a loss
   of a parameter set of either type will likely prevent decoding of a
   considerable portion of the corresponding RTP packet stream.

   If in-band signaling of parameter sets is used, the sender SHOULD
   take the error characteristics into account and use mechanisms to
   provide a high probability for delivering the parameter sets
   correctly.  Mechanisms that increase the probability for a correct
   reception include packet repetition, FEC, and retransmission.  The
   use of an unreliable, out-of-band control protocol has similar
   disadvantages as the in-band signaling (possible loss) and, in
   addition, may also lead to difficulties in the synchronization (see
   below).  Therefore, it is NOT RECOMMENDED.

   Parameter sets MAY be added or updated during the lifetime of a
   session using principles B and C.  It is required that parameter sets
   be present at the decoder prior to the NAL units that refer to them.
   Update or addition of parameter sets can result in further problems;
   therefore, the following recommendations should be considered.




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   -  When parameter sets are added or updated, care SHOULD be taken to
      ensure that any parameter set is delivered prior to its usage.
      When new parameter sets are added, previously unused parameter set
      identifiers are used.  It is common that no synchronization is
      present between out-of-band signaling and in-band traffic.  If
      out-of-band signaling is used, it is RECOMMENDED that a sender not
      start sending NALUs requiring the added or updated parameter sets
      prior to acknowledgement of delivery from the signaling protocol.

   -  When parameter sets are updated, the following synchronization
      issue should be taken into account.  When overwriting a parameter
      set at the receiver, the sender has to ensure that the parameter
      set in question is not needed by any NALU present in the network
      or receiver buffers.  Otherwise, decoding with a wrong parameter
      set may occur.  To lessen this problem, it is RECOMMENDED either
      to overwrite only those parameter sets that have not been used for
      a sufficiently long time (to ensure that all related NALUs have
      been consumed) or to add a new parameter set instead (which may
      have negative consequences for the efficiency of the video
      coding).

         Informative note: In some topologies like Topo-Video-switch-
         MCU [<a href="#ref-29" title="&quot;RTP Topologies&quot;">29</a>], the origin of the whole set of parameter sets may
         come from multiple sources that may use non-unique parameter
         set identifiers.  In this case, an offer may overwrite an
         existing parameter set if no other mechanism that enables
         uniqueness of the parameter sets in the out-of-band channel
         exists.

   -  In a multiparty session, one participant MUST associate parameter
      sets coming from different sources with the source identification
      whenever possible, e.g., by conveying out-of-band transported
      parameter sets, as different sources typically use independent
      parameter set identifier value spaces.

   -  Adding or modifying parameter sets by using both principles B and
      C in the same RTP session may lead to inconsistencies of the
      parameter sets because of the lack of synchronization between the
      control and the RTP channel.  Therefore, principles B and C MUST
      NOT both be used in the same session unless sufficient
      synchronization can be provided.

   In some scenarios (e.g., when only the subset of this payload format
   specification corresponding to H.241 is used) or topologies, it is
   not possible to employ out-of-band parameter set transmission.  In
   this case, parameter sets have to be transmitted in-band.  Here, the
   synchronization with the non-parameter-set-data in the bitstream is
   implicit, but the possibility of a loss has to be taken into account.



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   The loss probability should be reduced using the mechanisms discussed
   above.  In case a loss of a parameter set is detected, recovery may
   be achieved using a Decoder Refresh Point procedure, for example,
   using RTCP feedback Full Intra Request (FIR) [<a href="#ref-30" title="&quot;Codec Control Messages in the RTP Audio-Visual Profile with Feedback (AVPF)&quot;">30</a>].  Two example
   Decoder Refresh Point procedures are provided in the informative
   <a href="#section-8.5">Section 8.5</a>.

   -  When parameter sets are initially provided using principle A and
      then later added or updated in-band (principle C), there is a risk
      associated with updating the parameter sets delivered out-of-band.
      If receivers miss some in-band updates (for example, because of a
      loss or a late tune-in), those receivers attempt to decode the
      bitstream using outdated parameters.  It is therefore RECOMMENDED
      that parameter set IDs be partitioned between the out-of-band and
      in-band parameter sets.

<span class="h3"><a class="selflink" id="section-8.5" href="#section-8.5">8.5</a>.  Decoder Refresh Point Procedure Using In-Band Transport of</span>
<span class="h3">      Parameter Sets (Informative)</span>

   When a sender with a video encoder according to [<a href="#ref-1" title="&quot;Advanced video coding for generic audiovisual services&quot;">1</a>] receives a
   request for a decoder refresh point, the encoder shall enter the fast
   update mode by using one of the procedures specified in Sections
   8.5.1 or 8.5.2.  The procedure in <a href="#section-8.5.1">Section 8.5.1</a> is the preferred
   response in a lossless transmission environment.  Both procedures
   satisfy the requirement to enter the fast update mode for H.264 video
   encoding.

<span class="h4"><a class="selflink" id="section-8.5.1" href="#section-8.5.1">8.5.1</a>.  IDR Procedure to Respond to a Request for a Decoder Refresh</span>
<span class="h4">        Point</span>

   This section gives one possible way to respond to a request for a
   decoder refresh point.

   The encoder shall, in the order presented here:

   1) Immediately prepare to send an IDR picture.

   2) Send a sequence parameter set to be used by the IDR picture to be
      sent.  The encoder may optionally also send other sequence
      parameter sets.

   3) Send a picture parameter set to be used by the IDR picture to be
      sent.  The encoder may optionally also send other picture
      parameter sets.

   4) Send the IDR picture.





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   5) From this point forward in time, send any other sequence or
      picture parameter sets that have not yet been sent in this
      procedure, prior to their reference by any NAL unit, regardless of
      whether such parameter sets were previously sent prior to
      receiving the request for a decoder refresh point.  As needed,
      such parameter sets may be sent in a batch, one at a time, or in
      any combination of these two methods.  Parameter sets may be
      re-sent at any time for redundancy.  Caution should be taken when
      parameter set updates are present, as described above in <a href="#section-8.4">Section</a>
      <a href="#section-8.4">8.4</a>.

<span class="h4"><a class="selflink" id="section-8.5.2" href="#section-8.5.2">8.5.2</a>.  Gradual Recovery Procedure to Respond to a Request for a Decoder</span>
<span class="h4">        Refresh Point</span>

   This section gives another possible way to respond to a request for a
   decoder refresh point.

   The encoder shall, in the order presented here:

   1) Send a recovery point SEI message (see Sections D.1.7 and D.2.7 of
      [<a href="#ref-1" title="&quot;Advanced video coding for generic audiovisual services&quot;">1</a>]).

   2) Repeat any sequence and picture parameter sets that were sent
      before the recovery point SEI message, prior to their reference by
      a NAL unit.

   The encoder shall ensure that the decoder has access to all reference
   pictures for inter prediction of pictures at or after the recovery
   point, which is indicated by the recovery point SEI message, in
   output order, assuming that the transmission from now on is error-
   free.

   The value of the recovery_frame_cnt syntax element in the recovery
   point SEI message should be small enough to ensure a fast recovery.

   As needed, such parameter sets may be re-sent in a batch, one at a
   time, or in any combination of these two methods.  Parameter sets may
   be re-sent at any time for redundancy.  Caution should be taken when
   parameter set updates are present, as described above in <a href="#section-8.4">Section 8.4</a>.

<span class="h2"><a class="selflink" id="section-9" href="#section-9">9</a>.  Security Considerations</span>

   RTP packets using the payload format defined in this specification
   are subject to the security considerations discussed in the RTP
   specification [<a href="#ref-5" title="&quot;RTP: A Transport Protocol for Real-Time Applications&quot;">5</a>] and in any appropriate RTP profile (for example,
   [<a href="#ref-16" title="&quot;RTP Profile for Audio and Video Conferences with Minimal Control&quot;">16</a>]).  This implies that confidentiality of the media streams is
   achieved by encryption, for example, through the application of SRTP
   [<a href="#ref-26" title="&quot;The Secure Real-time Transport Protocol (SRTP)&quot;">26</a>].  Because the data compression used with this payload format is



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   applied end-to-end, any encryption needs to be performed after
   compression.  A potential denial-of-service threat exists for data
   encodings using compression techniques that have non-uniform
   receiver-end computational load.  The attacker can inject
   pathological datagrams into the stream that are complex to decode and
   that cause the receiver to be overloaded.  H.264 is particularly
   vulnerable to such attacks, as it is extremely simple to generate
   datagrams containing NAL units that affect the decoding process of
   many future NAL units.  Therefore, the usage of data origin
   authentication and data integrity protection of at least the RTP
   packet is RECOMMENDED, for example, with SRTP [<a href="#ref-26" title="&quot;The Secure Real-time Transport Protocol (SRTP)&quot;">26</a>].

   Note that the appropriate mechanism to ensure confidentiality and
   integrity of RTP packets and their payloads is very dependent on the
   application and on the transport and signaling protocols employed.
   Thus, although SRTP is given as an example above, other possible
   choices exist.

   Decoders MUST exercise caution with respect to the handling of user
   data SEI messages, particularly if they contain active elements, and
   MUST restrict their domain of applicability to the presentation
   containing the stream.

   End-to-end security with either authentication, integrity, or
   confidentiality protection will prevent a MANE from performing media-
   aware operations other than discarding complete packets.  In the case
   of confidentiality protection, it will even be prevented from
   discarding packets in a media-aware way.  To be allowed to perform
   its operations, a MANE is required to be a trusted entity that is
   included in the security context establishment.

<span class="h2"><a class="selflink" id="section-10" href="#section-10">10</a>.  Congestion Control</span>

   Congestion control for RTP SHALL be used in accordance with <a href="./rfc3550">RFC 3550</a>
   [<a href="#ref-5" title="&quot;RTP: A Transport Protocol for Real-Time Applications&quot;">5</a>] and with any applicable RTP profile, e.g., <a href="./rfc3551">RFC 3551</a> [<a href="#ref-16" title="&quot;RTP Profile for Audio and Video Conferences with Minimal Control&quot;">16</a>].  If
   best-effort service is being used, an additional requirement is that
   users of this payload format MUST monitor packet loss to ensure that
   the packet loss rate is within acceptable parameters.  Packet loss is
   considered acceptable if a TCP flow across the same network path, and
   experiencing the same network conditions, would achieve an average
   throughput, measured on a reasonable timescale, that is not less than
   the RTP flow is achieving.  This condition can be satisfied by
   implementing congestion control mechanisms to adapt the transmission
   rate (or the number of layers subscribed for a layered multicast
   session) or by arranging for a receiver to leave the session if the
   loss rate is unacceptably high.





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   The bitrate adaptation necessary for obeying the congestion control
   principle is easily achievable when real-time encoding is used.
   However, when pre-encoded content is being transmitted, bandwidth
   adaptation requires the availability of more than one coded
   representation of the same content, at different bitrates, or the
   existence of non-reference pictures or sub-sequences [<a href="#ref-22" title="&quot;Enhanced Concept of GOP&quot;">22</a>] in the
   bitstream.  The switching between the different representations can
   normally be performed in the same RTP session, e.g., by employing a
   concept known as SI/SP slices of the Extended profile or by switching
   streams at IDR picture boundaries.  Only when non-downgradable
   parameters (such as the profile part of the profile/level ID) are
   required to be changed does it become necessary to terminate and
   restart the media stream.  This may be accomplished by using a
   different RTP payload type.

   MANEs MAY follow the suggestions outlined in <a href="#section-7.3">Section 7.3</a> and remove
   certain unusable packets from the packet stream when that stream was
   damaged due to previous packet losses.  This can help reduce the
   network load in certain special cases.

<span class="h2"><a class="selflink" id="section-11" href="#section-11">11</a>.  IANA Considerations</span>

   The H264 media subtype name specified by <a href="./rfc3984">RFC 3984</a> has been updated as
   defined in <a href="#section-8.1">Section 8.1</a> of this memo.

<span class="h2"><a class="selflink" id="section-12" href="#section-12">12</a>.  Informative Appendix: Application Examples</span>

   This payload specification is very flexible in its use, in order to
   cover the extremely wide application space anticipated for H.264.
   However, this great flexibility also makes it difficult for an
   implementer to decide on a reasonable packetization scheme.  Some
   information on how to apply this specification to real-world
   scenarios is likely to appear in the form of academic publications
   and a test model software and description in the near future.
   However, some preliminary usage scenarios are described here as well.

<span class="h3"><a class="selflink" id="section-12.1" href="#section-12.1">12.1</a>.  Video Telephony According to Annex A of ITU-T Recommendation</span>
<span class="h3">       H.241</span>

   H.323-based video telephony systems that use H.264 as an optional
   video compression scheme are required to support Annex A of H.241 [<a href="#ref-3" title="&quot;Extended video procedures and control signals for H.300-series terminals&quot;">3</a>]
   as a packetization scheme.  The packetization mechanism defined in
   this Annex is technically identical with a small subset of this
   specification.

   When a system operates according to Annex A of H.241, parameter set
   NAL units are sent in-band.  Only single NAL unit packets are used.
   Many such systems are not sending IDR pictures regularly, but only



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   when required by user interaction or by control protocol means, e.g.,
   when switching between video channels in a Multipoint Control Unit or
   for error recovery requested by feedback.

<span class="h3"><a class="selflink" id="section-12.2" href="#section-12.2">12.2</a>.  Video Telephony, No Slice Data Partitioning, No NAL Unit</span>
<span class="h3">       Aggregation</span>

   The RTP part of this scheme is implemented and tested (though not the
   control-protocol part; see below).

   In most real-world video telephony applications, picture parameters
   such as picture size or optional modes never change during the
   lifetime of a connection.  Therefore, all necessary parameter sets
   (usually only one) are sent as a side effect of the capability
   exchange/announcement process, e.g., according to the SDP syntax
   specified in <a href="#section-8.2">Section 8.2</a> of this document.  As all necessary
   parameter set information is established before the RTP session
   starts, there is no need for sending any parameter set NAL units.
   Slice data partitioning is not used either.  Thus, the RTP packet
   stream basically consists of NAL units that carry single coded
   slices.

   The encoder chooses the size of coded slice NAL units so that they
   offer the best performance.  Often, this is done by adapting the
   coded slice size to the MTU size of the IP network.  For small
   picture sizes, this may result in a one-picture-per-one-packet
   strategy.  Intra refresh algorithms clean up the loss of packets and
   the resulting drift-related artifacts.

<span class="h3"><a class="selflink" id="section-12.3" href="#section-12.3">12.3</a>.  Video Telephony, Interleaved Packetization Using NAL Unit</span>
<span class="h3">       Aggregation</span>

   This scheme allows better error concealment and is used in
   H.263-based designs using <a href="./rfc4629">RFC 4629</a> packetization [<a href="#ref-11" title="&quot;RTP Payload Format for ITU-T Rec. H.263 Video&quot;">11</a>].  It has been
   implemented, and good results were reported [<a href="#ref-13" title="&quot;H.264/AVC over IP&quot;">13</a>].

   The VCL encoder codes the source picture so that all macroblocks
   (MBs) of one MB line are assigned to one slice.  All slices with even
   MB row addresses are combined into one STAP, and all slices with odd
   MB row addresses are combined into another.  Those STAPs are
   transmitted as RTP packets.  The establishment of the parameter sets
   is performed as discussed above.

   Note that the use of STAPs is essential here, as the high number of
   individual slices (18 for a Common Intermediate Format (CIF) picture)
   would lead to unacceptably high IP/UDP/RTP header overhead (unless
   the source coding tool FMO is used, which is not assumed in this
   scenario).  Furthermore, some wireless video transmission systems,



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   such as H.324M and the IP-based video telephony specified in 3GPP,
   are likely to use relatively small transport packet size.  For
   example, a typical MTU size of H.223 AL3 SDU is around 100 bytes
   [<a href="#ref-17" title="&quot;Multiplexing protocol for low bit rate multimedia communication&quot;">17</a>].  Coding individual slices according to this packetization
   scheme provides further advantage in communication between wired and
   wireless networks, as individual slices are likely to be smaller than
   the preferred maximum packet size of wireless systems.  Consequently,
   a gateway can convert the STAPs used in a wired network into several
   RTP packets with only one NAL unit, which are preferred in a wireless
   network, and vice versa.

<span class="h3"><a class="selflink" id="section-12.4" href="#section-12.4">12.4</a>.  Video Telephony with Data Partitioning</span>

   This scheme has been implemented and has been shown to offer good
   performance, especially at higher packet loss rates [<a href="#ref-13" title="&quot;H.264/AVC over IP&quot;">13</a>].

   Data partitioning is known to be useful only when some form of
   unequal error protection is available.  Normally, in single-session
   RTP environments, even error characteristics are assumed; that is,
   the packet loss probability of all packets of the session is the same
   statistically.  However, there are means to reduce the packet loss
   probability of individual packets in an RTP session.  A FEC packet
   according to <a href="./rfc5109">RFC 5109</a> [<a href="#ref-18" title="&quot;RTP Payload Format for Generic Forward Error Correction&quot;">18</a>], for example, specifies which media
   packets are associated with the FEC packet.

   In all cases, the incurred overhead is substantial but is in the same
   order of magnitude as the number of bits that have otherwise been
   spent for intra information.  However, this mechanism does not add
   any delay to the system.

   Again, the complete parameter set establishment is performed through
   control protocol means.

<span class="h3"><a class="selflink" id="section-12.5" href="#section-12.5">12.5</a>.  Video Telephony or Streaming with FUs and Forward Error</span>
<span class="h3">       Correction</span>

   This scheme has been implemented and has been shown to provide good
   performance, especially at higher packet loss rates [<a href="#ref-19" title="&quot;Video Coding and Transport Layer Techniques for H.264/AVC- Based Transmission over Packet-Lossy Networks&quot;">19</a>].

   The most efficient means to combat packet losses for scenarios where
   retransmissions are not applicable is forward error correction (FEC).
   Although application layer, end-to-end use of FEC is often less
   efficient than a FEC-based protection of individual links (especially
   when links of different characteristics are in the transmission
   path), application layer, end-to-end FEC is unavoidable in some
   scenarios.  <a href="./rfc5109">RFC 5109</a> [<a href="#ref-18" title="&quot;RTP Payload Format for Generic Forward Error Correction&quot;">18</a>] provides means to use generic, application
   layer, end-to-end FEC in packet loss environments.  A binary forward
   error correcting code is generated by applying the XOR operation to



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   the bits at the same bit position in different packets.  The binary
   code can be specified by the parameters (n,k), in which k is the
   number of information packets used in the connection and n is the
   total number of packets generated for k information packets; that is,
   n-k parity packets are generated for k information packets.

   When a code is used with parameters (n,k) within the <a href="./rfc5109">RFC 5109</a>
   framework, the following properties are well known:

   a) If applied over one RTP packet, <a href="./rfc5109">RFC 5109</a> provides only packet
      repetition.

   b) <a href="./rfc5109">RFC 5109</a> is most bitrate efficient if XOR-connected packets have
      equal length.

   c) At the same packet loss probability p and for a fixed k, the
      greater the value of n, the smaller the residual error probability
      becomes.  For example, for a packet loss probability of 10%, k=1,
      and n=2, the residual error probability is about 1%, whereas for
      n=3, the residual error probability is about 0.1%.

   d) At the same packet loss probability p and for a fixed code rate
      k/n, the greater the value of n, the smaller the residual error
      probability becomes.  For example, at a packet loss probability of
      p=10%, k=1, and n=2, the residual error rate is about 1%, whereas
      for an extended Golay code with k=12 and n=24, the residual error
      rate is about 0.01%.

   For applying <a href="./rfc5109">RFC 5109</a> in combination with H.264 baseline-coded video
   without using FUs, several options might be considered:

   1) The video encoder produces NAL units for which each video frame is
      coded in a single slice.  Applying FEC, one could use a simple
      code, e.g., (n=2, k=1).  That is, each NAL unit would basically
      just be repeated.  The disadvantage is obviously the bad code
      performance according to d), above, and the low flexibility, as
      only (n, k=1) codes can be used.

   2) The video encoder produces NAL units for which each video frame is
      encoded in one or more consecutive slices.  Applying FEC, one
      could use a better code, e.g., (n=24, k=12), over a sequence of
      NAL units.  Depending on the number of RTP packets per frame, a
      loss may introduce a significant delay, which is reduced when more
      RTP packets are used per frame.  Packets of completely different
      lengths might also be connected, which decreases bitrate






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      efficiency according to b), above.  However, with some care and
      for slices of 1 kb or larger, similar length (100-200 bytes
      difference) may be produced, which will not lower the bit
      efficiency catastrophically.

   3) The video encoder produces NAL units, for which a certain frame
      contains k slices of possibly almost equal length.  Then, applying
      FEC, a better code, e.g., (n=24, k=12), can be used over the
      sequence of NAL units for each frame.  The delay compared to that
      of 2), above, may be reduced, but several disadvantages are
      obvious.  First, the coding efficiency of the encoded video is
      lowered significantly, as slice-structured coding reduces intra-
      frame prediction and additional slice overhead is necessary.
      Second, pre-encoded content or, when operating over a gateway, the
      video is usually not appropriately coded with k slices such that
      FEC can be applied.  Finally, the encoding of video producing k
      slices of equal length is not straightforward and might require
      more than one encoding pass.

   Many of the mentioned disadvantages can be avoided by applying FUs in
   combination with FEC.  Each NAL unit can be split into any number of
   FUs of basically equal length; therefore, FEC, with a reasonable k
   and n, can be applied, even if the encoder made no effort to produce
   slices of equal length.  For example, a coded slice NAL unit
   containing an entire frame can be split to k FUs, and a parity check
   code (n=k+1, k) can be applied.  However, this has the disadvantage
   that unless all created fragments can be recovered, the whole slice
   will be lost.  Thus, a larger section is lost than would be if the
   frame had been split into several slices.

   The presented technique makes it possible to achieve good
   transmission error tolerance, even if no additional source coding
   layer redundancy (such as periodic intra frames) is present.
   Consequently, the same coded video sequence can be used to achieve
   the maximum compression efficiency and quality over error-free
   transmission and for transmission over error-prone networks.
   Furthermore, the technique allows the application of FEC to pre-
   encoded sequences without adding delay.  In this case, pre-encoded
   sequences that are not encoded for error-prone networks can still be
   transmitted almost reliably without adding extensive delays.  In
   addition, FUs of equal length result in a bitrate efficient use of
   <a href="./rfc5109">RFC 5109</a>.

   If the error probability depends on the length of the transmitted
   packet (e.g., in case of mobile transmission [<a href="#ref-15" title="&quot;H.26L/JVT Coding Network Abstraction Layer and IP-Based Transport&quot;">15</a>]), the benefits of
   applying FUs with FEC are even more obvious.  Basically, the
   flexibility of the size of FUs allows appropriate FEC to be applied
   for each NAL unit and unequal error protection of NAL units.



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   When FUs and FEC are used, the incurred overhead is substantial but
   is in the same order of magnitude as the number of bits that have to
   be spent for intra-coded macroblocks if no FEC is applied.  In [<a href="#ref-19" title="&quot;Video Coding and Transport Layer Techniques for H.264/AVC- Based Transmission over Packet-Lossy Networks&quot;">19</a>],
   it was shown that the overall performance of the FEC-based approach
   enhanced quality when using the same error rate and same overall
   bitrate, including the overhead.

<span class="h3"><a class="selflink" id="section-12.6" href="#section-12.6">12.6</a>.  Low Bitrate Streaming</span>

   This scheme has been implemented with H.263 and non-standard RTP
   packetization and has given good results [<a href="#ref-20" title="&quot;Slice interleaving in compressed video packetization&quot;">20</a>].  There is no technical
   reason why similarly good results could not be achievable with H.264.

   In today's Internet streaming, some of the offered bitrates are
   relatively low in order to allow terminals with dial-up modems to
   access the content.  In wired IP networks, relatively large packets,
   say 500 - 1500 bytes, are preferred to smaller and more frequently
   occurring packets in order to reduce network congestion.  Moreover,
   use of large packets decreases the amount of RTP/UDP/IP header
   overhead.  For low bitrate video, the use of large packets means that
   sometimes up to few pictures should be encapsulated in one packet.

   However, the loss of a packet including many coded pictures would
   have drastic consequences for visual quality, as there is practically
   no way to conceal the loss of an entire picture other than repeating
   the previous one.  One way to construct relatively large packets and
   maintain possibilities for successful loss concealment is to
   construct MTAPs that contain interleaved slices from several
   pictures.  An MTAP should not contain spatially adjacent slices from
   the same picture or spatially overlapping slices from any picture.
   If a packet is lost, it is likely that a lost slice is surrounded by
   spatially adjacent slices of the same picture and spatially
   corresponding slices of the temporally previous and succeeding
   pictures.  Consequently, concealment of the lost slice is likely to
   be relatively successful.

<span class="h3"><a class="selflink" id="section-12.7" href="#section-12.7">12.7</a>.  Robust Packet Scheduling in Video Streaming</span>

   Robust packet scheduling has been implemented with MPEG-4 Part 2 and
   simulated in a wireless streaming environment [<a href="#ref-21" title="&quot;Packet scheduling algorithm for wireless video streaming&quot;">21</a>].  There is no
   technical reason why similar or better results could not be
   achievable with H.264.

   Streaming clients typically have a receiver buffer that is capable of
   storing a relatively large amount of data.  Initially, when a
   streaming session is established, a client does not start playing the
   stream back immediately.  Rather, it typically buffers the incoming
   data for a few seconds.  This buffering helps maintain continuous



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   playback, as, in case of occasional increased transmission delays or
   network throughput drops, the client can decode and play buffered
   data.  Otherwise, without initial buffering, the client has to freeze
   the display, stop decoding, and wait for incoming data.  The
   buffering is also necessary for either automatic or selective
   retransmission in any protocol level.  If any part of a picture is
   lost, a retransmission mechanism may be used to resend the lost data.
   If the retransmitted data is received before its scheduled decoding
   or playback time, the loss is recovered perfectly.  Coded pictures
   can be ranked according to their importance in the subjective quality
   of the decoded sequence.  For example, non-reference pictures, such
   as conventional B pictures, are subjectively least important, as
   their absence does not affect decoding of any other pictures.  In
   addition to non-reference pictures, the ITU-T H.264 | ISO/IEC
   14496-10 standard includes a temporal scalability method called sub-
   sequences [<a href="#ref-22" title="&quot;Enhanced Concept of GOP&quot;">22</a>].  Subjective ranking can also be made on coded slice
   data partition or slice group basis.  Coded slices and coded slice
   data partitions that are subjectively the most important can be sent
   earlier than their decoding order indicates, whereas coded slices and
   coded slice data partitions that are subjectively the least important
   can be sent later than their natural coding order indicates.
   Consequently, any retransmitted parts of the most important slices
   and coded slice data partitions are more likely to be received before
   their scheduled decoding or playback time compared to the least
   important slices and slice data partitions.

<span class="h2"><a class="selflink" id="section-13" href="#section-13">13</a>.  Informative Appendix: Rationale for Decoding Order Number</span>

<span class="h3"><a class="selflink" id="section-13.1" href="#section-13.1">13.1</a>.  Introduction</span>

   The Decoding Order Number (DON) concept was introduced mainly to
   enable efficient multi-picture slice interleaving (see <a href="#section-12.6">Section 12.6</a>)
   and robust packet scheduling (see <a href="#section-12.7">Section 12.7</a>).  In both of these
   applications, NAL units are transmitted out of decoding order.  DON
   indicates the decoding order of NAL units and should be used in the
   receiver to recover the decoding order.  Example use cases for
   efficient multi-picture slice interleaving and for robust packet
   scheduling are given in Sections <a href="#section-13.2">13.2</a> and <a href="#section-13.3">13.3</a>, respectively.
   <a href="#section-13.4">Section 13.4</a> describes the benefits of the DON concept in error
   resiliency achieved by redundant coded pictures.  <a href="#section-13.5">Section 13.5</a>
   summarizes considered alternatives to DON and justifies why DON was
   chosen for this RTP payload specification.









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<span class="h3"><a class="selflink" id="section-13.2" href="#section-13.2">13.2</a>.  Example of Multi-Picture Slice Interleaving</span>

   An example of multi-picture slice interleaving follows.  A subset of
   a coded video sequence is depicted below in output order.  R denotes
   a reference picture, N denotes a non-reference picture, and the
   number indicates a relative output time.

      ... R1 N2 R3 N4 R5 ...

   The decoding order of these pictures from left to right is as
   follows:

      ... R1 R3 N2 R5 N4 ...

   The NAL units of pictures R1, R3, N2, R5, and N4 are marked with a
   DON equal to 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5, respectively.

   Each reference picture consists of three slice groups that are
   scattered as follows (a number denotes the slice group number for
   each macroblock in a Quarter Common Intermediate Format (QCIF)
   frame):

      0 1 2 0 1 2 0 1 2 0 1
      2 0 1 2 0 1 2 0 1 2 0
      1 2 0 1 2 0 1 2 0 1 2
      0 1 2 0 1 2 0 1 2 0 1
      2 0 1 2 0 1 2 0 1 2 0
      1 2 0 1 2 0 1 2 0 1 2
      0 1 2 0 1 2 0 1 2 0 1
      2 0 1 2 0 1 2 0 1 2 0
      1 2 0 1 2 0 1 2 0 1 2

   For the sake of simplicity, we assume that all the macroblocks of a
   slice group are included in one slice.  Three MTAPs are constructed
   from three consecutive reference pictures so that each MTAP contains
   three aggregation units, each of which contains all the macroblocks
   from one slice group.  The first MTAP contains slice group 0 of
   picture R1, slice group 1 of picture R3, and slice group 2 of picture
   R5.  The second MTAP contains slice group 1 of picture R1, slice
   group 2 of picture R3, and slice group 0 of picture R5.  The third
   MTAP contains slice group 2 of picture R1, slice group 0 of picture
   R3, and slice group 1 of picture R5.  Each non-reference picture is
   encapsulated into an STAP-B.








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   Consequently, the transmission order of NAL units is the following:

      R1, slice group 0, DON 1, carried in MTAP,RTP SN: N
      R3, slice group 1, DON 2, carried in MTAP,RTP SN: N
      R5, slice group 2, DON 4, carried in MTAP,RTP SN: N
      R1, slice group 1, DON 1, carried in MTAP,RTP SN: N+1
      R3, slice group 2, DON 2, carried in MTAP,RTP SN: N+1
      R5, slice group 0, DON 4, carried in MTAP,RTP SN: N+1
      R1, slice group 2, DON 1, carried in MTAP,RTP SN: N+2
      R3, slice group 1, DON 2, carried in MTAP,RTP SN: N+2
      R5, slice group 0, DON 4, carried in MTAP,RTP SN: N+2
      N2, DON 3, carried in STAP-B, RTP SN: N+3
      N4, DON 5, carried in STAP-B, RTP SN: N+4

   The receiver is able to organize the NAL units back in decoding order
   based on the value of DON associated with each NAL unit.

   If one of the MTAPs is lost, the spatially adjacent and temporally
   co-located macroblocks are received and can be used to conceal the
   loss efficiently.  If one of the STAPs is lost, the effect of the
   loss does not propagate temporally.

<span class="h3"><a class="selflink" id="section-13.3" href="#section-13.3">13.3</a>.  Example of Robust Packet Scheduling</span>

   An example of robust packet scheduling follows.  The communication
   system used in the example consists of the following components in
   the order that the video is processed from source to sink:

   o camera and capturing
   o pre-encoding buffer
   o encoder
   o encoded picture buffer
   o transmitter
   o transmission channel
   o receiver
   o receiver buffer
   o decoder
   o decoded picture buffer
   o display

   The video communication system used in this example operates as
   follows.  Note that processing of the video stream happens gradually
   and at the same time in all components of the system.  The source
   video sequence is shot and captured to a pre-encoding buffer.  The
   pre-encoding buffer can be used to order pictures from sampling order
   to encoding order or to analyze multiple uncompressed frames for
   bitrate control purposes, for example.  In some cases, the pre-
   encoding buffer may not exist; instead, the sampled pictures are



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   encoded right away.  The encoder encodes pictures from the pre-
   encoding buffer and stores the output (i.e., coded pictures) to the
   encoded picture buffer.  The transmitter encapsulates the coded
   pictures from the encoded picture buffer to transmission packets and
   sends them to a receiver through a transmission channel.  The
   receiver stores the received packets to the receiver buffer.  The
   receiver buffering process typically includes buffering for
   transmission delay jitter.  The receiver buffer can also be used to
   recover correct decoding order of coded data.  The decoder reads
   coded data from the receiver buffer and produces decoded pictures as
   output into the decoded picture buffer.  The decoded picture buffer
   is used to recover the output (or display) order of pictures.
   Finally, pictures are displayed.

   In the following example figures, I denotes an IDR picture, R denotes
   a reference picture, N denotes a non-reference picture, and the
   number after I, R, or N indicates the sampling time relative to the
   previous IDR picture in decoding order.  Values below the sequence of
   pictures indicate scaled system clock timestamps.  The system clock
   is initialized arbitrarily in this example, and time runs from left
   to right.  Each I, R, and N picture is mapped into the same timeline
   compared to the previous processing step, if any, assuming that
   encoding, transmission, and decoding take no time.  Thus, events
   happening at the same time are located in the same column throughout
   all example figures.

   A subset of a sequence of coded pictures is depicted below in
   sampling order.

       ...  N58 N59 I00 N01 N02 R03 N04 N05 R06 ... N58 N59 I00 N01 ...
       ... --|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|- ... -|---|---|---|- ...
       ...  58  59  60  61  62  63  64  65  66  ... 128 129 130 131 ...

       Figure 16.  Sequence of pictures in sampling order

   The sampled pictures are buffered in the pre-encoding buffer to
   arrange them in encoding order.  In this example, we assume that the
   non-reference pictures are predicted from both the previous and the
   next reference picture in output order, except for the non-reference
   pictures immediately preceding an IDR picture, which are predicted
   only from the previous reference picture in output order.  Thus, the
   pre-encoding buffer has to contain at least two pictures, and the
   buffering causes a delay of two picture intervals.  The output of the
   pre-encoding buffering process and the encoding (and decoding) order
   of the pictures are as follows:






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       ... N58 N59 I00 R03 N01 N02 R06 N04 N05 ...
       ... -|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|- ...
       ... 60  61  62  63  64  65  66  67  68  ...

       Figure 17.  Reordered pictures in the pre-encoding buffer

   The encoder or the transmitter can set the value of DON for each
   picture to a value of DON for the previous picture in decoding order
   plus one.

   For the sake of simplicity, let us assume that:

   o  the frame rate of the sequence is constant,
   o  each picture consists of only one slice,
   o  each slice is encapsulated in a single NAL unit packet,
   o  there is no transmission delay, and
   o  pictures are transmitted at constant intervals (that is, 1 /
      (frame rate)).

   When pictures are transmitted in decoding order, they are received as
   follows:

       ... N58 N59 I00 R03 N01 N02 R06 N04 N05 ...
       ... -|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|- ...
       ... 60  61  62  63  64  65  66  67  68  ...

       Figure 18.  Received pictures in decoding order

   The OPTIONAL sprop-interleaving-depth media type parameter is set to
   0, as the transmission (or reception) order is identical to the
   decoding order.

   Initially, the decoder has to buffer for one picture interval in its
   decoded picture buffer to organize pictures from decoding order to
   output order, as depicted below:

       ... N58 N59 I00 N01 N02 R03 N04 N05 R06 ...
       ... -|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|- ...
       ... 61  62  63  64  65  66  67  68  69  ...

       Figure 19.  Output order

   The amount of required initial buffering in the decoded picture
   buffer can be signaled in the buffering period SEI message or with
   the num_reorder_frames syntax element of H.264 video usability
   information.  num_reorder_frames indicates the maximum number of
   frames, complementary field pairs, or non-paired fields that precede
   any frame, complementary field pair, or non-paired field in the



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   sequence in decoding order and that follow it in output order.  For
   the sake of simplicity, we assume that num_reorder_frames is used to
   indicate the initial buffer in the decoded picture buffer.  In this
   example, num_reorder_frames is equal to 1.

   It can be observed that if the IDR picture I00 is lost during
   transmission and a retransmission request is issued when the value of
   the system clock is 62, there is one picture interval of time (until
   the system clock reaches timestamp 63) to receive the retransmitted
   IDR picture I00.

   Let us then assume that IDR pictures are transmitted two frame
   intervals earlier than their decoding position; that is, the pictures
   are transmitted as follows:

       ...  I00 N58 N59 R03 N01 N02 R06 N04 N05 ...
       ... --|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|- ...
       ...  62  63  64  65  66  67  68  69  70  ...

       Figure 20.  Interleaving: Early IDR pictures in sending order

   The OPTIONAL sprop-interleaving-depth media type parameter is set
   equal to 1 according to its definition.  (The value of sprop-
   interleaving-depth in this example can be derived as follows: picture
   I00 is the only picture preceding picture N58 or N59 in transmission
   order and following it in decoding order.  Except for pictures I00,
   N58, and N59, the transmission order is the same as the decoding
   order of pictures.  As a coded picture is encapsulated into exactly
   one NAL unit, the value of sprop-interleaving-depth is equal to the
   maximum number of pictures preceding any picture in transmission
   order and following the picture in decoding order).

   The receiver buffering process contains two pictures at a time
   according to the value of the sprop-interleaving-depth parameter and
   orders pictures from the reception order to the correct decoding
   order based on the value of DON associated with each picture.  The
   output of the receiver buffering process is as follows:

       ... N58 N59 I00 R03 N01 N02 R06 N04 N05 ...
       ... -|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|- ...
       ... 63  64  65  66  67  68  69  70  71  ...

       Figure 21.  Interleaving: Receiver buffer








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   Again, an initial buffering delay of one picture interval is needed
   to organize pictures from decoding order to output order, as depicted
   below:

        ... N58 N59 I00 N01 N02 R03 N04 N05 ...
        ... -|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|- ...
        ... 64  65  66  67  68  69  70  71  ...

        Figure 22.  Interleaving: Receiver buffer after reordering

   Note that the maximum delay that IDR pictures can undergo during
   transmission, including possible application, transport, or link
   layer retransmission, is equal to three picture intervals.  Thus, the
   loss resiliency of IDR pictures is improved in systems supporting
   retransmission compared to the case in which pictures are transmitted
   in their decoding order.

<span class="h3"><a class="selflink" id="section-13.4" href="#section-13.4">13.4</a>.  Robust Transmission Scheduling of Redundant Coded Slices</span>

   A redundant coded picture is a coded representation of a picture or a
   part of a picture that is not used in the decoding process if the
   corresponding primary coded picture is correctly decoded.  There
   should be no noticeable difference between any area of the decoded
   primary picture and a corresponding area that would result from
   application of the H.264 decoding process for any redundant picture
   in the same access unit.  A redundant coded slice is a coded slice
   that is a part of a redundant coded picture.

   Redundant coded pictures can be used to provide unequal error
   protection in error-prone video transmission.  If a primary coded
   representation of a picture is decoded incorrectly, a corresponding
   redundant coded picture can be decoded.  Examples of applications and
   coding techniques using the redundant codec picture feature include
   the video redundancy coding [<a href="#ref-23" title="&quot;Video Redundancy Coding in H.263+&quot;">23</a>] and the protection of "key pictures"
   in multicast streaming [<a href="#ref-24" title="&quot;Error Resilient Video Coding Using Unequally Protected Key Pictures&quot;">24</a>].

   One property of many error-prone video communications systems is that
   transmission errors are often bursty.  Therefore, they may affect
   more than one consecutive transmission packet in transmission order.
   In low bitrate video communication, it is relatively common for an
   entire coded picture to be encapsulated into one transmission packet.
   Consequently, a primary coded picture and the corresponding redundant
   coded pictures may be transmitted in consecutive packets in
   transmission order.  To make the transmission scheme more tolerant of
   bursty transmission errors, it is beneficial to transmit the primary
   coded picture and redundant coded picture separated by more than a
   single packet.  The DON concept enables this.




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<span class="h3"><a class="selflink" id="section-13.5" href="#section-13.5">13.5</a>.  Remarks on Other Design Possibilities</span>

   The slice header syntax structure of the H.264 coding standard
   contains the frame_num syntax element that can indicate the decoding
   order of coded frames.  However, the usage of the frame_num syntax
   element is not feasible or desirable to recover the decoding order,
   due to the following reasons:

   o  The receiver is required to parse at least one slice header per
      coded picture (before passing the coded data to the decoder).

   o  Coded slices from multiple coded video sequences cannot be
      interleaved, as the frame number syntax element is reset to 0 in
      each IDR picture.

   o  The coded fields of a complementary field pair share the same
      value of the frame_num syntax element.  Thus, the decoding order
      of the coded fields of a complementary field pair cannot be
      recovered based on the frame_num syntax element or any other
      syntax element of the H.264 coding syntax.

   The RTP payload format for transport of MPEG-4 elementary streams
   [<a href="#ref-25" title="&quot;RTP Payload Format for Transport of MPEG-4 Elementary Streams&quot;">25</a>] enables interleaving of access units and transmission of
   multiple access units in the same RTP packet.  An access unit is
   specified in the H.264 coding standard to comprise all NAL units
   associated with a primary coded picture according to Subclause
   7.4.1.2 of [<a href="#ref-1" title="&quot;Advanced video coding for generic audiovisual services&quot;">1</a>].  Consequently, slices of different pictures cannot be
   interleaved, and the multi-picture slice interleaving technique (see
   <a href="#section-12.6">Section 12.6</a>) for improved error resilience cannot be used.

<span class="h2"><a class="selflink" id="section-14" href="#section-14">14</a>.  Changes from <a href="./rfc3984">RFC 3984</a></span>

   Following is the list of technical changes (including bug fixes) from
   <a href="./rfc3984">RFC 3984</a>.  Besides this list of technical changes, numerous editorial
   changes have been made, but not documented in this section.  Note
   that <a href="#section-8.2.2">Section 8.2.2</a> is where much of the important changes in this
   memo occurs and deserves particular attention.

   1)  In Sections <a href="#section-5.4">5.4</a>, <a href="#section-5.5">5.5</a>, <a href="#section-6.2">6.2</a>, <a href="#section-6.3">6.3</a>, and <a href="#section-6.4">6.4</a>, removed that the
       packetization mode in use may be signaled by external means.

   2)  In <a href="#section-7.2.2">Section 7.2.2</a>, changed the sentence

       There are N VCL NAL units in the de-interleaving buffer.

       to

       There are N or more VCL NAL units in the de-interleaving buffer.



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   3)  In <a href="#section-8.1">Section 8.1</a>, the semantics of sprop-init-buf-time (paragraph
       2), changed the sentence

       The parameter is the maximum value of (transmission time of a NAL
       unit - decoding time of the NAL unit), assuming reliable and
       instantaneous transmission, the same timeline for transmission
       and decoding, and that decoding starts when the first packet
       arrives.

       to

       The parameter is the maximum value of (decoding time of the NAL
       unit - transmission time of a NAL unit), assuming reliable and
       instantaneous transmission, the same timeline for transmission
       and decoding, and that decoding starts when the first packet
       arrives.

   4)  Added media type parameters max-smbps, sprop-level-parameter-
       sets, use-level-src-parameter-sets, in-band-parameter-sets, sar-
       understood, and sar-supported.

   5)  In <a href="#section-8.1">Section 8.1</a>, removed the specification of parameter-add.
       Other descriptions of parameter-add (in Sections <a href="#section-8.2">8.2</a> and <a href="#section-8.4">8.4</a>)
       were also removed.

   6)  In <a href="#section-8.1">Section 8.1</a>, added a constraint to sprop-parameter-sets such
       that it can only contain parameter sets for the same profile and
       level as indicated by profile-level-id.

   7)  In <a href="#section-8.2.1">Section 8.2.1</a>, added that sprop-parameter-sets and sprop-
       level-parameter-sets may be either included in the "a=fmtp" line
       of SDP or conveyed using the "fmtp" source attribute as specified
       in Section 6.3 of [<a href="#ref-9" title="&quot;Source-Specific Media Attributes in the Session Description Protocol (SDP)&quot;">9</a>].

   8)  In <a href="#section-8.2.2">Section 8.2.2</a>, removed sprop-deint-buf-req from being part of
       the media format configuration in usage with the SDP Offer/Answer
       model.

   9)  In <a href="#section-8.2.2">Section 8.2.2</a>, made it clear that level is downgradable in the
       SDP Offer/Answer model, i.e., the use of the level part of
       profile-level-id does not need to be symmetric (the level
       included in the answer can be lower than or equal to the level
       included in the offer).

   10) In <a href="#section-8.2.2">Section 8.2.2</a>, removed that the capability parameters may be
       used to declare encoding capabilities.





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   11) In <a href="#section-8.2.2">Section 8.2.2</a>, added rules on how to use sprop-parameter-sets
       and sprop-level-parameter-sets for out-of-band transport of
       parameter sets, with or without level downgrading.

   12) In <a href="#section-8.2.2">Section 8.2.2</a>, clarified the rules of using the media type
       parameters with SDP Offer/Answer for multicast.

   13) In <a href="#section-8.2.2">Section 8.2.2</a>, completed and corrected the list of how
       different media type parameters shall be interpreted in the
       different combinations of offer or answer and direction
       attribute.

   14) In <a href="#section-8.4">Section 8.4</a>, changed the text such that both out-of-band and
       in-band transport of parameter sets are allowed, and neither is
       recommended or required.

   15) Added <a href="#section-8.5">Section 8.5</a> (informative) providing example methods for
       decoder refresh to handle parameter set losses.

   16) Added media type parameters max-recv-level and level-asymmetry-
       allowed and adjusted associated text and examples for level
       upgrade and asymmetry.

<span class="h2"><a class="selflink" id="section-15" href="#section-15">15</a>.  Backward Compatibility to <a href="./rfc3984">RFC 3984</a></span>

   The current document is a revision of <a href="./rfc3984">RFC 3984</a> and obsoletes it.  The
   technical changes relative to <a href="./rfc3984">RFC 3984</a> are listed in <a href="#section-14">Section 14</a>.
   This section addresses the backward compatibility issues.

   It should be noted that for the majority of cases, there will be no
   compatibility issues for legacy implementations per <a href="./rfc3984">RFC 3984</a> and new
   implementations per this document to interwork.  Compatibility issues
   may only occur when both of the following conditions are true: 1)
   legacy implementations and new implementations are interworking, and
   2) parameter sets are transported out-of-band.  When such
   compatibility issues occur, it is easy to debug and find the reason
   for the incompatibility using the following analyses.

   Items 1, 2, 3, 7, 9, 10, 12, and 13 are bug-fix types of changes and
   do not incur any backward compatibility issues.

   Item 4 (addition of six new media type parameters) does not incur any
   backward compatibility issues for SDP Offer/Answer-based
   applications, as legacy <a href="./rfc3984">RFC 3984</a> receivers ignore these parameters,
   and it is fine for legacy <a href="./rfc3984">RFC 3984</a> senders not to use these
   parameters as they are optional.  However, there is a backward
   compatibility issue for declarative-usage-based applications (only
   for the parameter sprop-level-parameter-sets as the other five



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   parameters are not usable in declarative usage).  For example,
   declarative-usage-based applications using RTSP and SAP have a
   backward compatibility issue because the SDP receiver per <a href="./rfc3984">RFC 3984</a>
   cannot accept a session for which the SDP includes an unrecognized
   parameter.  Therefore, the RTSP or SAP server may have to prepare two
   sets of streams, one for legacy <a href="./rfc3984">RFC 3984</a> receivers and one for
   receivers according to this memo.

   Items 5, 6, and 11 are related to out-of-band transport of parameter
   sets.  There are following backward compatibility issues.

   1)  When a legacy sender per <a href="./rfc3984">RFC 3984</a> includes parameter sets for a
       level different than the default level indicated by profile-
       level-id to sprop-parameter-sets, the parameter value of sprop-
       parameter-sets is invalid to the receiver per this memo;
       therefore, the session may be rejected.

   2)  In SDP Offer/Answer between a legacy offerer per <a href="./rfc3984">RFC 3984</a> and an
       answerer per this memo, when the answerer includes in the answer
       parameter sets that are not a superset of the parameter sets
       included in the offer, the parameter value of sprop-parameter-
       sets is invalid to the offerer, and the session may not be
       initiated properly (related to change item 11).

   3)  When one endpoint A per this memo includes in-band-parameter-sets
       equal to 1, the other side B per <a href="./rfc3984">RFC 3984</a> does not understand
       that it must transmit parameter sets in-band, and B may still
       exclude parameter sets in the in-band stream it is sending.
       Consequently, endpoint A cannot decode the stream it receives.

   Item 7 (allowance of conveying sprop-parameter-sets and sprop-level-
   parameter-sets using the "fmtp" source attribute as specified in
   Section 6.3 of [<a href="#ref-9" title="&quot;Source-Specific Media Attributes in the Session Description Protocol (SDP)&quot;">9</a>]) is similar to item 4.  It does not incur any
   backward compatibility issues for SDP Offer/Answer-based
   applications, as legacy <a href="./rfc3984">RFC 3984</a> receivers ignore the "fmtp" source
   attribute, and it is fine for legacy <a href="./rfc3984">RFC 3984</a> senders not to use the
   "fmtp" source attribute as it is optional.  However, there is a
   backward compatibility issue for SDP declarative-usage-based
   applications, e.g., those using RTSP and SAP, because the SDP
   receiver per <a href="./rfc3984">RFC 3984</a> cannot accept a session for which the SDP
   includes an unrecognized parameter (i.e., the "fmtp" source
   attribute).  Therefore, the RTSP or SAP server may have to prepare
   two sets of streams, one for legacy <a href="./rfc3984">RFC 3984</a> receivers and one for
   receivers according to this memo.







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   Item 14 does not incur any backward compatibility issues, as out-of-
   band transport of parameter sets is still allowed.

   Item 15 does not incur any backward compatibility issues, as the
   added <a href="#section-8.5">Section 8.5</a> is informative.

   Item 16 does not create any backward compatibility issues as the
   handling of the default level is the same if either end is <a href="./rfc3984">RFC 3984</a>
   compliant, and, furthermore, <a href="./rfc3984">RFC-3984</a>-compliant ends would simply
   ignore the new media type parameters, if present.

<span class="h2"><a class="selflink" id="section-16" href="#section-16">16</a>.  Acknowledgements</span>

   Stephan Wenger, Miska Hannuksela, Thomas Stockhammer, Magnus
   Westerlund, and David Singer are thanked as the authors of <a href="./rfc3984">RFC 3984</a>.
   Dave Lindbergh, Philippe Gentric, Gonzalo Camarillo, Gary Sullivan,
   Joerg Ott, and Colin Perkins are thanked for careful review during
   the development of <a href="./rfc3984">RFC 3984</a>. Stephen Botzko, Magnus Westerlund, Alex
   Eleftheriadis, Thomas Schierl, Tom Taylor, Ali Begen, Aaron Wells,
   Stuart Taylor, Robert Sparks, Dan Romascanu, and Niclas Comstedt are
   thanked for their valuable comments and input during the development
   of this memo.

<span class="h2"><a class="selflink" id="section-17" href="#section-17">17</a>.  References</span>

<span class="h3"><a class="selflink" id="section-17.1" href="#section-17.1">17.1</a>.  Normative References</span>

   [<a id="ref-1">1</a>]   ITU-T Recommendation H.264, "Advanced video coding for generic
         audiovisual services", March 2010.

   [<a id="ref-2">2</a>]   ISO/IEC International Standard 14496-10:2008.

   [<a id="ref-3">3</a>]   ITU-T Recommendation H.241, "Extended video procedures and
         control signals for H.300-series terminals", May 2006.

   [<a id="ref-4">4</a>]   Bradner, S., "Key words for use in RFCs to Indicate Requirement
         Levels", <a href="https://www.rfc-editor.org/bcp/bcp14">BCP 14</a>, <a href="./rfc2119">RFC 2119</a>, March 1997.

   [<a id="ref-5">5</a>]   Schulzrinne, H., Casner, S., Frederick, R., and V. Jacobson,
         "RTP: A Transport Protocol for Real-Time Applications", STD 64,
         <a href="./rfc3550">RFC 3550</a>, July 2003.

   [<a id="ref-6">6</a>]   Handley, M., Jacobson, V., and C. Perkins, "SDP: Session
         Description Protocol", <a href="./rfc4566">RFC 4566</a>, July 2006.

   [<a id="ref-7">7</a>]   Josefsson, S., "The Base16, Base32, and Base64 Data Encodings",
         <a href="./rfc4648">RFC 4648</a>, October 2006.




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   [<a id="ref-8">8</a>]   Rosenberg, J. and H. Schulzrinne, "An Offer/Answer Model with
         Session Description Protocol (SDP)", <a href="./rfc3264">RFC 3264</a>, June 2002.

   [<a id="ref-9">9</a>]   Lennox, J., Ott, J., and T. Schierl, "Source-Specific Media
         Attributes in the Session Description Protocol (SDP)", <a href="./rfc5576">RFC</a>
         <a href="./rfc5576">5576</a>, June 2009.

<span class="h3"><a class="selflink" id="section-17.2" href="#section-17.2">17.2</a>.  Informative References</span>

   [<a id="ref-10">10</a>]  Luthra, A., Sullivan, G.J., and T. Wiegand (eds.),
         "Introduction to the special issue on the H.264/AVC video
         coding standard", IEEE Transactions on Circuits and Systems for
         Video Technology, Vol. 13, No. 7, July 2003.

   [<a id="ref-11">11</a>]  Ott, J., Bormann, C., Sullivan, G., Wenger, S., and R. Even,
         Ed., "RTP Payload Format for ITU-T Rec. H.263 Video", <a href="./rfc4629">RFC 4629</a>,
         January 2007.

   [<a id="ref-12">12</a>]  ISO/IEC International Standard 14496-2:2004.

   [<a id="ref-13">13</a>]  Wenger, S., "H.264/AVC over IP", IEEE Transaction on Circuits
         and Systems for Video Technology, Vol. 13, No. 7, July 2003.

   [<a id="ref-14">14</a>]  Wenger, S., "H.26L over IP: The IP-Network Adaptation Layer",
         Proceedings Packet Video Workshop, April 2002.

   [<a id="ref-15">15</a>]  Stockhammer, T., Hannuksela, M.M., and S. Wenger, "H.26L/JVT
         Coding Network Abstraction Layer and IP-Based Transport", IEEE
         International Conference on Image Processing (ICIP 2002),
         Rochester, NY, September 2002.

   [<a id="ref-16">16</a>]  Schulzrinne, H. and S. Casner, "RTP Profile for Audio and Video
         Conferences with Minimal Control", STD 65, <a href="./rfc3551">RFC 3551</a>, July 2003.

   [<a id="ref-17">17</a>]  ITU-T Recommendation H.223, "Multiplexing protocol for low bit
         rate multimedia communication", July 2001.

   [<a id="ref-18">18</a>]  Li, A., Ed., "RTP Payload Format for Generic Forward Error
         Correction", <a href="./rfc5109">RFC 5109</a>, December 2007.

   [<a id="ref-19">19</a>]  Stockhammer, T., Wiegand, T., Oelbaum, T., and F. Obermeier,
         "Video Coding and Transport Layer Techniques for H.264/AVC-
         Based Transmission over Packet-Lossy Networks", IEEE
         International Conference on Image Processing (ICIP 2003),
         Barcelona, Spain, September 2003.

   [<a id="ref-20">20</a>]  Varsa, V. and M. Karczewicz, "Slice interleaving in compressed
         video packetization", Packet Video Workshop 2000.



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   [<a id="ref-21">21</a>]  Kang, S.H. and A. Zakhor, "Packet scheduling algorithm for
         wireless video streaming", Packet Video Workshop 2002.

   [<a id="ref-22">22</a>]  Hannuksela, M.M., "Enhanced Concept of GOP", JVT-B042,
         available <a href="http://ftp3.itu.int/av-arch/video-site/0201_Gen/JVT-B042.doc">http://ftp3.itu.int/av-arch/video-site/0201_Gen/JVT-</a>
         <a href="http://ftp3.itu.int/av-arch/video-site/0201_Gen/JVT-B042.doc">B042.doc</a>, January 2002.

   [<a id="ref-23">23</a>]  Wenger, S., "Video Redundancy Coding in H.263+", 1997
         International Workshop on Audio-Visual Services over Packet
         Networks, September 1997.

   [<a id="ref-24">24</a>]  Wang, Y.-K., Hannuksela, M.M., and M. Gabbouj, "Error Resilient
         Video Coding Using Unequally Protected Key Pictures", in Proc.
         International Workshop VLBV03, September 2003.

   [<a id="ref-25">25</a>]  van der Meer, J., Mackie, D., Swaminathan, V., Singer, D., and
         P. Gentric, "RTP Payload Format for Transport of MPEG-4
         Elementary Streams", <a href="./rfc3640">RFC 3640</a>, November 2003.

   [<a id="ref-26">26</a>]  Baugher, M., McGrew, D., Naslund, M., Carrara, E., and K.
         Norrman, "The Secure Real-time Transport Protocol (SRTP)", <a href="./rfc3711">RFC</a>
         <a href="./rfc3711">3711</a>, March 2004.

   [<a id="ref-27">27</a>]  Schulzrinne, H., Rao, A., and R. Lanphier, "Real Time Streaming
         Protocol (RTSP)", <a href="./rfc2326">RFC 2326</a>, April 1998.

   [<a id="ref-28">28</a>]  Handley, M., Perkins, C., and E. Whelan, "Session Announcement
         Protocol", <a href="./rfc2974">RFC 2974</a>, October 2000.

   [<a id="ref-29">29</a>]  Westerlund, M. and S. Wenger, "RTP Topologies", <a href="./rfc5117">RFC 5117</a>,
         January 2008.

   [<a id="ref-30">30</a>]  Wenger, S., Chandra, U., Westerlund, M., and B. Burman, "Codec
         Control Messages in the RTP Audio-Visual Profile with Feedback
         (AVPF)", <a href="./rfc5104">RFC 5104</a>, February 2008.
















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Authors' Addresses

   Ye-Kui Wang
   Huawei Technologies
   400 Crossing Blvd, 2nd Floor
   Bridgewater, NJ 08807
   USA

   Phone: +1-908-541-3518
   EMail: yekui.wang@huawei.com


   Roni Even
   Huawei Technologies
   14 David Hamelech
   Tel Aviv 64953
   Israel

   Phone: +972-545481099
   EMail: even.roni@huawei.com


   Tom Kristensen
   TANDBERG
   Philip Pedersens vei 22
   N-1366 Lysaker
   Norway

   Phone: +47 67125125
   EMail: tom.kristensen@tandberg.com, tomkri@ifi.uio.no


   Randell Jesup
   WorldGate Communications
   3800 Horizon Blvd, Suite #103
   Trevose, PA 19053-4947
   USA

   Phone: +1-215-354-5166
   EMail: rjesup@wgate.com, randell_ietf@jesup.org











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